Statistically speaking, Octomore is all about peating levels. The first batch, distilled in 2002, was peated to 80.5ppm, and subsequent batches have reached as high as 208ppm. The whisky has regularly been bottled as a five-year-old, as this is considered the optimum age for its phenols to be at their most expressive.

Despite being the peat monster to devour all peat monsters, Octomore is not by any means a one-dimensional dram, with maritime, fruity, floral, and vanilla notes finding their voices in the midst of all that macho smoke.