Talisker 10 - Fire and Spice

 

Talisker hails from the Isle of Skye, which lies just off the west coast of the scottish mainland. It is the only distillery still in operation on the island.

The 10-year-old expression is the distillery's standard, base expression. It's aged in ex-american whiskey hogsheads (barrels), apparently just outside of Glasgow these days, according to this 2011 article. Talisker still has warehouses on site, apparently, which it keeps full by migrating casks from the mainland facility as it taps the older ones on site.

Talisker 10 is a golden brown, and has a complex aroma and caramel and pepper. It's bottled at 91.6 proof (45.8% abv), a little higher than most other distillery edition single malts, which usually weigh in at between 80 and 86 proof.

So, a youngish scotch with no extra sexy finishes, just a decade in one type of barrel. How good can it be?

Quite good. Excellent in fact.

Talisker is the taste equivalent of sitting in front of a blazing fireplace in a house on the seacoast on a chill night in the late fall, with the windows cracked so you can smell salt in the air and hear the crash of the waves. It's fire and spice with an underlying sweetness that engages the tongue in a delightful dance.

Sipped with just a tad bit of water, there's peat there, both from the malt and the underground springs the distillery draws on, but this is no Islay peat monster. There's sweetness, then the smoke moves in slowly, and before it overwhelms, it gets nicely balanced with bit of saltiness, a some more sweetness, and then the signature Talisker spicy black pepper finish, which fades to a lingering finish that reminds me of a salty onshore breeze and makes my tongue warm and happy.

This unique and complex taste doesn't really have an equivalent in the universe of single malt scotches. If you haven't tried it, and don't hate peat, you owe it yourself to sample it.

Talisker is not a cheap dram - here in the US, it'll set you back $65-$70 a 750ml bottle. I was fortunate enough to score my liter bottle at a duty free shop in the Caribbean for the same price as the 750s were selling for in the liquor stores at home, making it a great bargain.

However, when that bottle is finally done in, I will be replacing it, even if I have to pay full US retail. Talisker has earned a permanent place on my personal bar.