Octomore Orpheus 5 Year Old Edition 2.2

sample from a friend

I remember really adoring this a year or two ago when I sampled it from a friend's bottle. Let's see how it we're viewing it now.

Nose: Very curious and far darker than my recollections. Smoky and heavy pig in soy sauce over a bonfire, coated in very heavily salted sea-weed. There are also a few distinct rubber notes. Perhaps even some salted wine, but I'm missing the Petrus. Let's give it another 30 minutes to see how it fares. Very faintly some red berries, extremely soft, but it's there. (with water) Ah, far more flowery agave, roses, red-fruit red-flower petals. Gallons of tequila, aged of course and buttery, and sweet malt as the base. It's still got the same heavy peat, but in its own sweet style.

Palate: A touch hot, and a clean malt, and then the pug roast. Tyre and sea-weed emerge, slowly smouldering, and then amid it all is a layer of winey raspberries and strawberry fruit jam. I get, too, that oily funk from agave. Goes with the roast. I wonder how water is going to play with this. (with water) The wine comes out a bit thin at the forefront, and some of the tannins are present, and turn somewhat to coffee. Then it yields to many of the same baseline notes.

Finish: I like this a lot, but it's not nearly as magical as I held in memory from that splendid session so long ago. Loads of peat, massive, yet gentle and sweet. Very faintly of Petrus, still in the red fruit, roses, and petals, lasts for ages. I hope that you like Lapsang Souchong as much as I do. I'm split on this, but it's still excellent. My initial rating of this a few years ago was in A territory, but this time it's closer to a B+. I'm just going to give it this score to split the difference.

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