Talisker Storm is a No Age Statement whisky (yet another) that is designed to fit in between the 10 Year (which I love) and the 18 Year (which I haven't had yet). I can find the regular Talisker 10 Year for $50 all day long, and the 18 Year for $115 or so, and this one averages about $65-70. I managed to pick it up for half price at $30, a real steal.
The last time I visited the Isle of Skye by way of my glass, in the form of the 10 Year, I was very favorably impressed - perhaps the perfect winter Scotch, full of minerality and sweetness and sea brine and salt. Very tasty. Let's see what this curio, only recently released in 2013, has to offer. Bottled at 45.8% ABV.
Nose: Rock salt in spades. Thick crusts of it. Followed by the rocks themselves, followed by a sweet maritime note. Smoke is light. Some medicinal notes. Creamier nose than the 10 Year, but also more muddled. Sour fruit.
Mouthfeel: Thick and luscious, warming. Creamy.
Palate: BBQ! Mouth-watering savory notes throughout, much like Ardbeg Uigeadail (my standard bearer for all BBQ-inclined Scotch), but sharper - more young whisky is present here. Sweeter on the tongue than the nose implies, and the sweetness is of a rather citric variety. Like ruby red grapefruit candy. This is a bit spicy, too - peppery in the best way in that it augments the other flavors. I like how the flavors always seem to march along the tongue in the same order - savory, sweet, salty, spicy. Like the four suits in a card deck being shuffled by a master hand.
Finish: More salt at the end, along with the wood slats of the cask coming through. Maybe a little vanilla too. Smoke lances in and out of the finish.
Verdict: Delightful, although I think I like the 10 Year a little bit more. This is good stuff. It has a broad, successful flavor profile that mixes maritime elements with sweet and spicy elements. Definitely Recommended!
Link to the Talisker website for Storm: http://www.malts.com/index.php/en_gb/Our-Whiskies/Talisker/Talisker-Storm
Lovely bottle and packaging!
ReplyDeleteAgreed - I think Scotch packaging is getting nicer and nicer. Of course, we're paying for that on the bottom line, but arguably it's worth it - if they care that much about the presentation, odds are they care about the product as well. You can't drink the label, after all.
ReplyDeleteLooking into the liquor cabinet, my favorite packages are probably Edradour 10 (beautiful cream cylinder with a lovely color sketch of the distillery on it), Talisker Storm (the brooding cobalt blue seascape and silver script), and Caol Ila 12 (mysterious beiges and grays and dark blues intermix to suggest a distillery below a hill below clouds below a dusky/dawny sky). Ardbeg also clearly puts clever effort into their packaging.
The least impressive, to my eye, are the Balvenie cylinders (just words on white/cream/red backing). Laphroaig comes dangerously close to this as well - they clearly let the whisky do the talking.
How do you feel about glass/ crystal decanters for scotch? I probably wouldn't have more than two of these on display, and I realize that scotch does not require decanting as does wine, but for the most prized bottles in one's collection, I love the idea of pouring a glass of scotch from a beautiful, seductive, heirloom decanter.
ReplyDeleteWell, Unknown, I generally use decanters only for "showy" booze, like absinthe or campari or bourbon, something with some visual pizzazz. I also tend to drink bottles of scotch too quickly to make it worth switching to a new container. Decanters are classy and useful, but ultimately not mandatory - especially for Scotch. Since all alcohol degrades in sunlight (hence so many dark bottles for beer, so many opaque containers for scotch as noted above), it's easier to just keep the bottles hid away in their natural homes.
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