
May 25, 2016

Brand new Tastival and other Jura

The new Jura Tastival 2016 just came in, but of course we won’t taste it just like that, out of the blue and without any proper sparring partners. Let’s see what we’ve got up our sleeves… rummage rummage… Perhaps this?

Jura 'Turas-Mara' (42%, OB, travel retail, 1l, +/-2016)

No age statement, so a story instead, as usual. In this case, it’s about Gael emigrants to America in the 18th and 19th century. After all, why not, you learn about History instead of maths… Colour: gold. Nose: very Jura, with walnuts and mustard, then burnt wood and bitter marmalade. I do find a smokiness as well, and the usual bit of metal polish, which is quite Jura as well. Also some dried kelp, perhaps. Very dry nose! Mouth: some vanilla and raisins at first sips, with a rather thick mouth feel, then the same, much drier development on walnuts and mustard, with a fino-ish character. Also quite some cloves and ginger, with a peppery side. Finish: medium, spicy, with a little bitter oak and green peppercorn. Very active oak! Salty aftertaste. Comments: I find it very fair, with some personality and character. As usual at almost all distilleries, the owners have ‘pushed the oak’ a bit, but indeed it’s a very pleasant dram. SGP:362 - 82 points.

Yeah, let’s try a ‘naked’ young Jura, just to be sure…

Jura 8 yo 2006/2014 (46%, Hepburn’s Choice, 508 bottles)

Colour: almost white. Nose: exactly the Turas-Mara, without any oak or wine. Which means that there’s much more porridge and beer, as well as leaves and grass, while the metal polish and the mustard keep dancing under your nostrils. A little fruit as well, but not much. Gooseberries, perhaps. Also curious whiffs of foreshots, but just tiny-wee drops, naturally. Watch the methanol! Mouth: really raw, eau-de-vie-ish, unpolished, and frankly new-make-y. Porridge with schnapps inside. Well, there’s more schnapps than porridge, which may please our friend in Schwarzwald, there, on the other side of the mighty Rhine river ;-). Finish: quite long, with a little salt, beer, yeast, and anything new-make-y indeed. Including pears. They have great pears in Schwarzwald. Comments: interesting, but I think this would need a lot of ice to become ‘sippable’. And a swimming pull plus a ukulele (what?) SGP:451 - 72 points.

Back to the OBs…

Jura 16 yo (40%, OB, +/-2014)

Apparently, last time I tried the 16, that was in 2007. Personally, I wouldn’t bottle a 16 years old at 40% vol. Colour: gold. Nose: typical metallic nose, tin box, engine, caramel… But that’s just the start, for it would rather unfold on overripe apples, apple crumble, potato peel… And always quite some metal polish. Mouth: very dry and leafy, with a feeling of quaffing seawater infused with tobacco leaves (or something like that). Plus the obligatory walnuts. Sadly, the low strength makes the bitter and salty dryness stand out, like in a manzanilla. Manzanilla has its aficionados – I’m one of them – but this style is very ‘segmenting’. Finish: shortish, very dry, salty, tobacco-ish, leafy… Comments: it’s not the latest ‘Duriach’s Own’ bottling, which is sweeter and rounder according to the very excellent Jean-Marc Bélier, taster and note-maker extraordinaire at LMdW. SGP:362 - 83 points.

Jura ‘Tastival 2016’ (51%, OB, triple sherry finish)

Not the actual picture yet. This year’s brand new Jura festival bottling, I believe out right today on the island. Apparently, it is NAS, and I guess ‘triple sherry finish’ means that a part was finished in oloroso, one part in fino, and one part in PX (or amontillado?), and not that they did that on the whole batch successively. Let’s try it… Colour: gold. Nose: Jura likes sherry. Globally, this is a bolder Turas-Mara, with more structure, marmalade, seawater, and, apparently, peat. Quite some leather too, coal, soot, earth… With water: nosing a good IPA, plus leather, nuts, and bread. There’s nothing better than good bread (apart from whisky that tastes like good bread). Mouth (neat): very good job. It’s kept Jura’s acridness and even its leafy/metallic side, but there are also more oranges and honey, which makes it rounder and better approachable. And, there, raisins. So perhaps PX? With water: fino-ish mustardy, dry, leafy, tobacco-ish, and salty. Indeed, the Turas-Mara on steroids. Finish: long, with more marmalade. Perfect salty aftertaste. Comments: is that the Jura Festival or the Sanlucar de Barrameda Festival? Seriously, very good Jura. All we also need is an age statement. SGP:362 - 87 points.

An age statement, he said… And why not peat, while you’re at it?...

Jura 25 yo 1989/2015 ‘Heavily Peated’ (60.9%, Signatory Vintage, bourbon, cask #30729, 194 bottles)

I remember well when these peated batches first came out, they caused quite a stir. Colour: pale gold. Nose: okay, it’s not that peaty. It’s rather very sooty and mineral, extremely dry, and very leathery and paraffiny. Not unlike when we were opening a new pack of plasticine or Play-Doh, when we were kids. But it’s also very strong, so… With water: gets farmy. Cow stable, hay, the farmer’s old leather jacket, and the petrol for his tractor. Okay, his bioethanol, if you like. Mouth (neat): eating your leather jacket. Huge leather polish, plain leather, a very acrid smokiness, and this feeling of eating grass (S., you’re much too old for rugby!) Bags of black pepper. With water: we tamed it, it seems. Perhaps a little too dry and leafy, but other than that, the salty, coastal, and lemony peatiness just works. Quite some black pepper too. Finish: long, big, ‘perforating’, leathery, and salty. What’s great is that bitter marmalade and green tea come out in the aftertaste, making the signature gentler. Kind of. Comments: a rather brutish Jura that really needs water. As they say in Austria, not for sissies. I really like. SGP:365 - 86 points.

Check the index of all Jura I've tasted so far