Octomore 2.2 Orpheus

61% abv

Score:  89.5/100

What happens when you put the world’s peatiest whisky into casks formerly used to mature one of the world’s most lauded wines from the Bourdeaux region of France?  Well…the best of both worlds really.  Betty and Veronica.

Think I still prefer my Octomore less adulterated (i.e. not wine-finished), but that is nothing more than the rambling confessions from the diary of a peathead.  Fact of the matter is…the wine influence works phenomenally well here.

You can expect all the feist and scrappiness of a five year old cask strength peat monster (140ppm!), but with a sheer subtle cloak of elegance draped over the lot.  Don’t epect the sharper edges to be dulled by the sweetening influence however.  This one still has all the beautiful clefts and peaks of its brethren.  Enormous…deep…and srprisingly sophisticated.

Nose:  Sweet, heat, peat.  Smoke.  Wine gums and grape-like wine notes.  Popcorn (kettle corn).  Caramel and creamy butterscotch.  Farmy notes.  Brine, tar and iodine.  Grows enormously with a little bit of diffusion time in the glass.

Palate:  Sharp and lean.  Fire and clouds of smoke.  Nearly a hickory note.  Licorice.  A scent somewhat akin to a hair salon in there somewhere.  The zing of lemon.  Plum and apple on the finish.

88.5 right out of the bottle.  89.5 after it opens for a while.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt