Whisky Discovery #16

Talisker 10 Year Old (45.8% abv, OB, Bottled +/- 2011 70cl)

Islay Single Malt Whisky

Circa £25

July's official addition

Talisker’s signature bottling, and my official July addition to my collection. 

Made on the shores of the Isle of Skye, you can sense seawater saltiness alongside this malt’s peaty smokiness. It tastes of dried fruit in a smoke surround with barley malt flavours followed by a warm, peppery, sweet finish.

I love it and am keen to try more from this distillery!

April 2013 update

I wrote this almost two years ago and was just six months into my whisky journey. This bottle has long gone, but I have been fortunate to try some fantastic whisky from Talisker since writing this post (this was written pre-blogging days and was part of my original liquid log) trying both the Talisker 25 and Talisker 30 at the first show Kat and I ever attended, Whisky Live 2012. I've also tasted the 57º North, however the 18 Year Old and Distiller's Edition have alluded me so far, but are both on my list to buy 

We've recently been sent some new Talisker releases to review and reading back through these notes for the 10 Year Old decided I really ought to do something about this post, and so went out and revisited the 10 Year Old, was it still as good as I remembered?

So What Did I Think?

Firstly I was pleased to note that I still enjoyed it. There's a real maritime note to this malt with a definite seafood liquor note to it reminding me of raw seafood being prepared, sitting on a plate ready to be cooked, raw tiger prawns, squid, sea bass and mackerel, our kitchen is often full of these ready to be tossed into the wok. Beach camp-fire notes start to creep through the smell of the sea, salty driftwood smouldering. The spicy white pepper eventually shows itself after a little while in the glass.

On the palate there's a gentle sweetness of honey at first before the spicy white pepper builds up it's presence, The beach camp-fire gives up a charred wood taste and I could detect soft notes of wild fennel. The gentle smoke and white pepper remain on the long finish that has a pinch of salt too. The empty glass on the following morning smells of that beach camp-fire again, though it's been left to die out overnight now.

So yes, it's still as good as I remembered it and should get a bottle for the shelf again soon. However my shelf is overflowing and I really want a bottle of DE or 18 Year Old first, and if my lottery numbers came up last night, might even run out for a bottle of the 35 Year Old that I missed at last years Whisky Exchange Whisky Show, but I wouldn't hold your breath!