Last week, our Malt Mongers Israel Whisky Club held a beautiful tasting of Talisker, hosted by IBBLS, Israel’s Diageo importer and led by the very talented Adaya Lange, who heads up the Whisky division in the company. The tasting included some new make, the Storm, the staple 10 year old, the Distiller’s Edition, the 18 and the 25. After the tasting was over, Tomer Goren – club member and Milk and Honey’s Distiller – broke out a bottle of the 30 year old and we added it to complete the tasting. But we’ll get to the tasting in due course, as this series reaches a little further back in the Talisker lineup to include the brand new Skye and the Dark Storm, before running up the ladder with the tasting.
We’ll begin our week long stay on Skye, leading up to the Fèis Ìle festival on Islay with this stunning 57 North Landscapes of the Isle of Skye movie by photographer Marcus McAdam:
The Skye is Talisker’s latest offering, and it’s supposed to be a softer introduction to the Talisker line.
Photo Credit: masterofmalt.com
Talisker Skye (45.8% ABV)
Appearance: Amber, quick thin legs.
Nose: This is young stuff, as it’s somewhat spirity (new make on the nose), the lightest whiff of peat, under that new make there’s white wine, green fruit, concentrated cinnamon, honey, and salt.
Palate: Warm and very soft, sweet with salt and spices on the tongue. There’s no single dominant spice there, but notes of cinnamon, pepper, clove, and allspice are all discernable, with the slightest bit of sour in there.
Linger: The Skye has an almost wine like finish. It’s very soft, with spice in the back of the throat and some dryness on the tongue. The finish is relatively long with light notes of peat.
Conclusion
This is as young a Talisker as you can get, unless you’re tasting new make. Strangely, it’s complex and different, soft and warm – they really hewed off some of the rougher edges. It’s almost a step child in the Talisker family and while very drinkable, it’s not peated enough for me.
The price point in the UK is a curiosity, though. It costs £5 more than the 10 year old, which is downright weird….
Thanks for the video, some stunning scenery! Looking forward to your upcoming series of reviews.
As to the whisky itself, this one seems to be like so many other new NAS releases hitting the market. Young, sometimes interesting, but at costs a little to a lot more expensive than arguably superior entry, age stated offerings. Sad, really.
Yes, Eric, it does seem like distilleries are going out of their way to peddle younger whisky at higher prices. At least in Talisker’s case, each expression has merit and is bottled at the traditional 45.8% ABV. If they keep the 10 in the lineup (which they said they would), they could use marketing to focus a wider part of the non malthead crowd on the NAS, both selling more and easing the demand on the age stated stock.
Not a bad strategy, if you think about it…..