Talisker is one of the renowned distilleries in Scotland, located on the isle of Skye. Situated on the banks of loch Harport, the Talisker distillery was created by the brothers Mac Askill in 1830. It changed hands and was renovated a few times before 1915 when a consortium including John Dewar & Sons and John Walker & Sons took it over. Until 1928, Talisker triple distilled their spirit. The distillery was badly damaged by a fire in 1960 and 5 replacement stills, exact replicas, had to be made.
Talisker is since 80 years an important ingredient in Johnny Walker, and their logo (the striding man) was on their bottles until the eighties. It's almost 46%, which makes it a malt for men. I hesitated long before buying this, mainly because it is said to resemble Lagavulin (I ain't a big fan of Lagavulin).
The taste then :
Smell : almost exactly the smell I remember from Lagavulin, lots of smoke, peat, saltiness, some sort of cheese. This doesn't promise lots of good.
Taste : this is a strong whisky, it numbs the mouth, and is difficult to drink pure. Again lots of smoke, sweeter tones, creamy. The salty taste stays absent, luckily. Much sweeter than expected. Pepper and a hint of mint in the aftertaste. It's ... alot : rich, and complex and creamy and satisfying and ... good. I like its complexity and creaminess.
As I said before : a grand whisky for real men. Not something to sip, but to drink in large gulps. A drink to get warm by after a long days work in the cold pouring rain.
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