Talisker DE 1991/205 TD-S: 5GS

Some whiskies are so so shy, one has to coax it out of the glass by artful manipulation (swirl swirl swirl), or else by plain duress (plain water treatment). In extreme cases, I have placed whisky in a small bottle and given it 15 seconds of the slap about treatment.

This Talisker needs no such encouragement, it is all to glad to reach out of the glass and greet you by the nose. But then could less be expected from so extroverted an individual?

Talisker DE 1991/2005 TD-S: 5GS 45.8%(aka customary Talisker strength)

Beyond Carbost Village close to the shore is a gentle haven sheltered from the bleak ravines which sweep down to the coast.

Here in the shadow of the distant Cuillin Hills lies the island’s only distillery Talisker.

The Golden Spirit of Skye has more than a hint of local seaweed peppered with sour & sweet notes and a memorable warm peaty finish.

  Nose: Strong seas ahoy. Sea spray, best have that peat fire going ‘ta keep warm, Skye’s peat seems a bit resinous mixed with a handful of wet muddy earth to me.  Oh and here comes the wet round ripe fruit- warm tones like fresh but not overcooked orange and plum jam. Pinch of cloves. Sweet. Sounds a little out of place but I can see what the DE version is getting at, just not too well integrated there. Pepper and seaweed (here it smells like seaweed, in another whisky it could be like..  Swedish Bitters) arrives together, it is a Talisker after all, then that old forgotten leather/old books smell.

  Palette: Whoosh pepper, smoke and wet peat, salty-sweet  turning astringent with wet leafy herbs, quite mentholated, chewy medium weight. Some dark fruit or chocolate under all that just jostling to get out but the Talisker in this easily has the upper hand all the way to the finish.

  Finish: Medium, drying leafy herbs. Cocoa? Peat in the rear.

Enjoyable take on Talisker, all its classic elements are present. The sweetness is noticeable on the nose though not completely integrated but on the palette? Really, the sherry does not stand up to the power of Talisker.

Now as to how I ended up with a Talisker tonight?

Over the weekend the DramFull FB group organized a tasting session at the Auld Alliance Singapore, highlighting 5 special bottlings. Emmanuel who had just arrived from Scotland had a treat. A bottle recovered from the 1895 shipwreck of the SS Wallachia. Serge covered this bottle here. The bottom of the glass bottle was indeed cast with GLENLIVET DUFFTOWN P DAWSON. Emmanuel let us all have a whiff and dear God, was this rotten …  an octopus crawled in got drunk, died and liquified.

Ok anyway, that was not the treat.

Emmanuel promptly remedied the situation by offering everyone glasses of his 1951 Gordon & Macphail Talisker. Now there’s a rare thing. I immediately put aside my Kornog. Sorry Kornog, oily candied sweetshop you were. But it is simply not everyday one gets a glass of 1951 Talisker. With compliments. Thank you Emmanuel.

No tasting notes for this, I was too gone for a proper one. But I remember that old bottle smell, thick and lacquered like a closed library with a bowl of overripe fruit. So unlike anything in modern bottles (who knows what modern bottles will smell of in 30 years eh?). Also it was redolent of peat oil, less so smoke, and the pepper in modern Talisker? Barely a trace. Emmanuel says its got to do with the modern cut.

And while we’re at it, here’s something interesting distillers say about their peat:

“I’m not so sure about that,” he says. “We don’t make any great claims about our water here. Heck, all Scottish water is great. And as for the other two ingredients, our barley varieties are constantly changing and yeast is yeast as far as we’re concerned. No, I’d say what’s important is the peat we dry our barley with.”