Happy 2016!  It seems like just last year that I was ringing in 2015 with a Scotch reveiw, why change a good habit.  So here we go with Talisker 10 year.

Years ago when I lived in Maryland I used to frequent a store there called The Perfect Pour.  It was a good store, great beer and wine selection.  They had a large collection of single malts there but the prices were unreliable.  One thing I always looked forward to was the small samplers are the check out.  Of course they had the 1oz Jack and Jim, but they also had a 3 piece sampler of Balvenie, 4 piece Ben Riach, and 3 piece Talisker.

At the time I was not very impressed with the Talisker, something about it didn’t sit well with me.  It was hard to put my finger on but after much consideration I described it as an Islay with a lot of spice in it, almost like hot salsa.  At first I was put out by the spice, but my tastes have somewhat changed over the years.  Especially with Dark Origins and Black Arts, both very spicy.

The aroma is light, sweet, and fruity, like a fruit pastry.  It reminded me of apricot Rugala.

Taste wise this is one of the spiciest scotches I’ve ever had.  It really fills up the sinuses!  Clears out congestion.  Other spicy scotches are more candy-like, cinnamon, ginger, etc.  Some are like black pepper or red pepper.  This is just pure heat and it just gets more intense after you finish it, like Wasabi or a mouth full of Horseradish at Passover.  The heat is strong enough to overwhelm other flavors, which is what I didn’t like about it the first time.  But there is clearly smoke and salty medicinal flavors here as well.  There is very pleasant after taste.

Takisker is not an Islay scotch but very similar in flavor.  It is the only distillery on Skye, west of the Northern Highlands.  Talisker 10 year is 45.8% abv and about $65.  I’m not sure if I’d buy Talisker 10 over Laphroaig or Ardbeg but I will try other members of the Talisker family.

Copyright 2016, David R Bergman