Talisker Distillers Edition - a superb marriage of Arctic desolation and Mediterranean sunny splendor

Over the past decade the Diageo Classic Malts have each offered a "Distiller's Edition" where the primary malt receives additional aging in a second fill cask that once held a vinous product. In Talisker's case they use big grape Oloroso sherry butts. They have a release each year. Reviewed today is the 2005 vintage.

Color: rich orangey amber

Nose: candied orange peel, white raisins, sherry, brine, band aids, and the characteristic Talisker old hatbox wood.

Intense vinous sherry sweetness that builds into midpalate with toffee, citrus and Turkish delight and hard candy flavors. At midpalate the citrus explodes into juicy intensity. At the turn to the finish there's a burst of floral essences - confused and humid like a quick tuck into a steamy raucous flower shop. Then the finish brings the cavalcade of classic maritime flavors up: salt sea air, mineral rock, old attic hatbox wood and a final bitter medicinal iodine note. Wow. I'm dizzy just writing it down. This is a tour de force of delicious flavors melded with maritime weird ones. It's totally recognizable as Talisker - the terroir of Skye is all over it. But the second fill coopering in oloroso sherry casks marries in rich sweet fruits that elevate, not detract. Wonderful!

*****

Talisker 18 - a darker, more serious expression of Skye.

Talisker 18, 45.8% abv,  is the older sibling of the wildly popular Talisker 10 expression - which has serious "terroir" fidelity to the rugged forlorn isle of Skye with it's maritime location and barren rocky mountainous terrain.  Color - old gold (deep amber yellow with orange glints).  Similar to the 10 but slightly deeper.  Nose: sweeter and more fruited than the 10, everything from the 10 is still there: salt, iodine, mineral, band-aids and toffee malt.  But now the sweetness isn't shy and lurking.  Butterscotch and black fruit notes (fig and prune) are right up front. As a result the maritime airs have receded towards the rear.Entry is sweet.  The quick complication of sea salt and dry hatbox wood quickly arrives - but there's more salt. There's a white pepper buzz at the turn of midpalate.  Then turkish delight, oak vanilla, and floral notes fill the mouth at midpalate too.  Oak tannins bring a citrus rind bitterness at the finish.  This is a very similar flavor profile to the 10 - so I'll focus on the differences: less honeyed and less floral up front compensated by a greater density of flavors - in particular more citrus through the end of the midpalate and more bitterness at the finish.  The finish is a bit longer too.  Excellent stuff.  The flavor profile is extraordinary.  It's saltier, darker, and more wooded than the 10, as you'd expect. Something is lost and something is gained.  All in all I prefer the 10 to the 18, however - extremely close though it is. The clearer sense of peat, mineral, and maritime scents and flavors combined with the lighter honeyed sweetness and more floral qualities with the 10 are a bit more pleasing.  I prefer the distiller's edition to both the 10 and the 18, however - but that's another story.
****

Talisker 10 is the coopered spirit of a wild and barren maritime land

Talisker is my favorite of Diageo's excellent "Classic Malts" series. It comes from the desolate craggy island at the end of Earth known as Skye. Geographically half way between the dense oceanic peaty malts of Islay and the ethereal heather and wood glow of Highland Park, Talisker manages to split the difference from a flavor and style perspective as well. More easy going that the big Islay malts it still manages to have an unmistakable character that is classically of the maritime West and yet has some of the heather and delicacy of the extreme North.

In the glass Talisker 10 is rich old gold (dark yellow with amber and orange glints).

The nose is the smell of the sea coopered in an old dry box. Brine, iodine, mineral and faint seaweed notes combine with old dry oak or even basswood aromas. There's a tiny whiff of band-aids here too. With added time sweet notes come from below: butterscotch, caramel, and a hint of mint. It's a superb and complex aroma that is instantly recognizable as Talisker once you've tried it.

Entry is sweet but complicated by the sudden appearance of sea flavors of brine and sea moss. Midpalate begins with a peppery tingle and broadens into oak tannins, honey, floral essence, a kiss of mint, turkish delight candy flavors and a peculiar mineral (rock) aspect. Finish is long with old wood and a bitter citrus rind. It's a complex and delicious clinic on "terroir" - sense of place. It smells just like what the barren rocky promontory by the sea where Talisker is made and barrel aged for a forlorn and windswept decade.

Talisker is closest to Oban of all the malts but ultimately it is something unique and wonderful all its own. The ten is a brilliant achievement and a fine selection. Compared to the two other Talisker expressions (the 18 and Distiller's Edition) - the 10 equals the 18 in my opinion and is edged by the distiller's edition but not by much. The 10 stands very well on it's own and is a lovely and distinctive experience each time I drink it.


****