Colour:
Young Sauternes
Review:
As most people who've spent more then two minutes with me know, I'm a
Talisker fan, in fact I'm more then a Talisker fan, I'm a Talisker
freak.
The 10 year old is one of those bang for buck entry
level whiskies, the 18 year old is Talisker refined. I own three
different bottles of Talisker 25 year old, two bottles of Talisker 10
year old, a Talisker 35 year old, two bottles of Talisker 22 year old
from Gordon & MacPhail and a bottle of Talisker 57 North.
You get the idea I think.
Now all that being said I'd heard for years how
good the Talisker 57 North was and so about six months ago I took the
plunge and picked up a bottle. Sadly I wound up doing this RIGHT before
the price drop so I wound up paying quite a bit more then it now runs,
but was it worth it?
Well it was an easy purchase for me with my love of
Talisker and it was with more then a little excitement that I cracked
the bottle open the night before my wife and I left for Scotland.
Last night was my tasting for the official review. The bottle had been open from the end of May with a nine tenths fill level.
I pour the whisky into the glencairn and
immediately get the aromas that I expect out of Talisker, even without
my head being near the glass.
Vanilla, white peppers, soft peat smoke, a little
lemon zest, aged oak, some soft fruit notes: strawberries and a hint of
sea shore: salt and seaweed.
Love, LOVE the nose! It's everything that I think of when I think of Talisker and just nosing it puts a smile on my face.
Time for a taste though!
First off it is a bigger whisky then the 10 year old, but it doesn't give you any indication of it's 57% abv.
Vanilla, lemon and orange zest, some bitter oak
tannins, white peppers, salt, soft smoke, quite a bit of spice, hints of
charred oak.
Enjoyable body, thick, a little hot especially for those not used to cask strength whiskies, but still very enjoyable.
The finish is long with caramel and lemon and orange zest.
An enjoyable whisky, but for me the orange zest is a
little too overpowering. However I know quite a few guys who are going
to LOVE this whisky, while I just enjoy it.
A couple of quick notes regarding the name and abv
on this whisky. Talisker 57 North is marketed as a cask strength
Talisker. It's not though as the whisky has been watered down to bring
it down to the 57 % abv so it's not a true cask strength however it is
Talisker on steroids.
The other note about this whisky is that the name
actually comes from the distilleries high northern latitude and the
watering of the abv down to 57% is also due to the name and continuing
with that theme.
I paid roughly $160 for my bottle, which while I enjoy the whisky I don't think I'd purchase it again at that price.
However thankfully the price within the last few
months has dropped down to roughly $120 to $135 which I'd happily pay
for a bottle of this. If you ever would like a chance to try a high abv
Talisker this is definitely going to be your bang for buck whisky as
from here on what moving into 20/25/30/35 year old Taliskers the price
jumps enormously!
I'd quite happily introduce this whisky to my
friends who enjoy a more intense whisky and is in my opinion still one
of the Talisker core range whiskies that are worthy of owning.
Nose: 24/25
Taste: 22/25
Finish: 21/25
Balance: 20/25
Overall: 87/100
No comments:
Post a Comment