Special Release 2021 Special, today young Talisker


September 22, 2021

(Republished September 30, 2021)

Special Release 2021 Special,
today young Talisker

(Or a stellar session for a friend in the stars)

The SRs are out. I would tend to rather try the lighter, unpeated ones first but since all previous Taliskers in these series had been wonderful, well, I just unilaterally and univocally decided to have the Talisker first. There are also two Lagavulins this time, I cannot wait. This wee session to our dearest friend Dr Peter Silver, malt enthusiast extraordinaire, formidable jazz trumpetist and band leader, and dentist to the stars. Here's to you, Peter.

Talisker 8 yo (59.7%, OB, Special Releases, Untold Legends, refill casks, 2021)

These come with some pretty immersive web pages that you could marvel at while sipping your dram. Rather well done, those pages. This baby is said to be particularly smoky, while each expression within this year's SRs comes with a nickname, this time it is 'The Rogue Seafury'. Aren't we shaky now… Colour: very pale white wine. Nose: it doesn't feel like they've been using rum wood, which they did last year. We're rather experiencing an extremely narrow style, in the best sense of that expression (as some great Chablis can be narrow). A lot of mercurochrome, seawater, oysters, crushed chalk and just a load of peat. I think I had already wondered if they weren't Islayising Talisker… With water: oh this wonderful brine! Plus olive oil and a drop of mezcal. Even mezcal cannot beat this. Mouth (neat): a total blade, sharp like a katana (whatever) and with a lot of lemon juice, brine and just 'peat'. A citrusy fruitiness too after a few seconds, perhaps citrons? Again, very simple, almost abstract, and just terrific. With water: 4/4 (nose neat, nose diluted, palate neat, palate diluted). Stunning purity, I suppose the only thing you could do to further improve this make is wait. All the rest is total absolut ganz perfect. Finish: long, well, not that long actually but sublimely pure. Comments: a diamond distillate, this is the perfect cut, a kind of grail that only time could further polish (you're rambling on, S.) Just add time… By the way I couldn't find any vintage but there could be one, I shall amend accordingly. Cheers Peter, you would have loved this one.
SGP:457 - 91 points.

Talisker 10 yo 2011/2021 (57.6%, Hunter Laing, The First Edition for Whisky Picnic Bar Taiwan, refill hogshead, cask #HL18304, 274 bottles)

Both branches of the Laings seem to have some great young Taliskers. They were still a little brutal as they first became available, at +/-5 years of age, but now that these batches have reached 10 or more, we can only marvel… Colour: pale white wine. Nose: nutshell, this one's rather (even) more medicinal, and rather less coastal/briny. A little more bacon and ashes, perhaps capers and wakame. In fact, this is even narrower than the 8, always in the best sense of that word and in this context. With water: that walk on the beach at low tide. Razor clams and cockles, how coastal has it become? Mouth: we're much closer to the 8 on the palate, but this time it is a little less clean, perhaps slightly burnt here and there (grilled bacon) and really very lemony and medicinal (slight camphor). Don't get me wrong, it's brilliant, I'm just 'comparing'. Try these apart within two days and you'll find them extremely similar, if not identical. Well, I know I would. With water: a little more fatness, otherwise bacon and lemons plus edible seaweed and a grittier liquorice (wood). Finish: long, back on mercurochrome and with a little lemon liqueur. That's right, limoncello. Comments: a little less 'polished' but really brilliant too. Marvellous young Talisker, which is one of those distilleries that can really shine both when very young and very old. No, there aren't that many of them.
SGP:467 - 90 points.

Forever, Peter.

Check the index of all Talisker we've tasted so far