Bruichladdich Octomore 2nd Edition

Jaune pâle. Nez: Fumé. Légèrement boisé. Florale. Médicinale. Windex. Alcool. Jambon. Pêche. Bouche: forte chaleur d'alcool. Sucré. Bien fumé. Sensation d'engourdissement. Tourbe. Légèrement salin. Jambon à l'érable fumé. Un peu fruité. Cerise. Bois. Cèdre. Une belle expérience.

Nose: Imagine everything that smells nice, absolutely everything, then you condense this goodness and distill it until you are left with the essence of lovely fragrances. Then you have this! Absolutely fantastic! Massively peaty and smoky, but in a very, very good way.

Taste: How is it possible that 61 % ABV and 140 ppm phenols can be this smooth? It defies logic, but there it is. Scrumptious! Brown sugar and perfect amount of peat and smoke.

Finish: Slightly dry, which could of course be down to the 61%. Lingering, thankfully! You really do not want to let this one go. A hint of freshness towards the end, slightly fruity...

Balance: Fantastic! This is why I love whisky!

Octomore is Bruichladdich's stonkingly-peated monster dram. A normal 'heavily peated' whisky comes in at around 40ppm (parts per million). Octomer 2nd Ed comes in at 140ppm. And my goodness but you can tell.

For anyone who has sampled one of the PC range (PC5, 6, 7 or 8) it's got a very similar character - thick, heavy, very seaweedy/iodine-y. If a normal Laddy is coastal in nature, this is coastal but downwind from an busy harbor. This is definitely a 'love it or hate it' whisky. Even though it's a whopping 62.5% (and only 5 years old) I found it was actually best sampled neat, or with the merest hint of water.

However, having compared it to Ardbeg's Supernova (their similarly heavily peated cask strength dram (no actual ppm mentioned, but over 100)) I found I preferred the Supernova. Taken without water, Supernova is dormant, almost dull. Adding a small amount wakes it up like no other whisky I've tried - it practically sparkles.

Both are cask strength peat monsters, and both are very, very good indeed.