Origin: Isle of Skye (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 45.8%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Diageo
Average price: € 240.00
Official website: taliskerwhisky.com
Vote: 91/100
In its philosophical dimension, whisky raises, among other things, a reflection on the concept of time. Because while it’s true that, with the fast pace of industrial production today, the entire distillation cycle is a relatively short continuous process (the machines are in action around the clock, and the workers work in shifts to cover the entire day), it’s equally true that the ageing phase is a different matter.
For ten, twenty, thirty years or more, the whisky and the wood in the casks, in the silence of the storage warehouses, trigger a unique and in some ways mysterious dialogue that transforms them. And while the distillate in the casks changes, the human being outside also changes.
Try to think of the last ten, twenty or thirty years of your life. How many things have happened while the whisky you now have in your glass has been transformed? You got married, you moved, you changed jobs, your children finished their studies, your hair whitened (or fell out), someone dear to you passed away. Like whisky, you are not the same as you were then.
That is why, before drinking, you should always be able to stop and look at the distillate: to think of its time is to think of ours.
So it is with some emotion and a great deal of respect that we are about to taste a sample of Talisker 25yo taken in Castelfranco, at the Whisky Revolution Festival last October.
This is a 2018 release, offered at the distillery’s standard alcohol content of 45.8% ABV (until a few years ago, a cask strength version could be found at 57.8% ABV), which has spent a quarter of a century in ex-Bourbon refill casks made from both European and American oak. And which, as is often the case with Talisker, has not undergone any chillfiltration.
Tasting notes
The colour is light amber.
With the glass in hand, you immediately perceive, on the nose, a marine note, of salt and seaweed, with an accent of bacon. As the nose moves closer, a mouth-watering scent of orange crème brulée emerges from the ocean. This is followed by a touch of nutmeg and a hint of pepper (Talisker’s signature). Letting the whisky breathe for a few minutes, a pleasant aroma of plum and crumbs of shortbread arrives. This is clearly a complex, layered olfactory profile.
In the mouth, the saltiness acquires depth, but the sweetness does not diminish. There are also notes of blood orange and, further on, of plum. The whole has an admirable balance: no scent dominates, it is a continuous alternation of marine puffs and sweet caresses.
The finish is less long than we would have expected, on salt and spice.
A whisky of extraordinary richness, in which the volcanic spirit of Talisker is elegantly tempered by sweeter essences.
A spectacular dram, reserved for special occasions.
Merry Christmas to all!
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