A light nose-feel with some prickle. The top notes are sweet and maritime, with hints of molasses and crystalline sugar vying with dry seaweed, crystal salt, and iodine, then ‘pear drop’ boiled fruit sweets below, on a smoky base with traces of charred meat. A drop of water softens the attack, increasing the maritime character, and reducing the sweet notes while introducing a hint of smoke.
Shop
Islands | Talisker 8 Year 2020 Special Release
70cl / 57.9% vol
Distillery: Talisker
From a malt rich in maritime character, this adventurous release of Talisker is the first ever to be finished in pot-still Caribbean rum casks. They have enlivened the marine scents and peppery punch of this Skye distillery’s colourful character with the rich, dark and exotic sweetness of warmer climes.
Founded in 1830, Talisker was the first distillery licensed on Skye and remains the island’s oldest working distillery. Famous for a full-bodied, rich character and powerful peppery finale, it is made by the sea, like the oyster beds that teem with life in the clear waters of the island’s west coast.
Deep, caramel aromas are balanced by sea salt, dry seaweed and warm sand on a smoky barbecue base. The texture is smooth, the taste hugely rich and sweet before the classic Talisker heat builds with a dash of salt and chilli pepper to a smoky, peppery and drying finish
Palate
A soft, smooth texture and a big taste; salty and especially, lightly sweet, before the full-on Talisker pepperiness takes over. Very drying. Water rounds it, softening the rich sweetness and bringing up the pepper, but the profile is similar.
Finish
Long, hotly peppery and drying, finishing sweet and smoky with the typical Talisker chilli-pepper ‘catch’ in the swallow. With water more rounded but similar, leaving a thread of smoke on the tongue.
English