Tastes

Ah Talisker. Usually with a malt I try to give it time to open up in the glass, my taste buds to acclimatise, add a few drops of water to balance things out. None of that effort with Talisker.. you just crack open the bottle or sample and just drink the stuff.. and it's nearly always just great as is! This is no exception. Despite some of the average NAS stuff they pump out this is nearly right up there for me with Springbank as my top distillery. This dram is great. A bottling of 12 year old Talisker single malt, which has been triple matured - it was initially aged in refill casks, and then was moved over to charred American oak hogsheads before finally mature in European oak refill casks. It was released exclusively for Diageo's Friends of the Classic Malts online society several years ago and I managed to get hold of a private bottle sampling a while back. Slightly sweeter, smoother more refined higher strength 10 year Talisker is what I'd sum it up as. 4.25 to 4.5 easy. Lovely creamy brine like pepper flavour. The aftertaste is a bit flat/offbut that's the only flaw i can find.

Counting down the remaining samples..No. 6. Benriach 25. I was definitely not impressed on first sip but I took cascode's advice and waited for an hour and it definitely opened up a fair bit. Still the aftertaste is a bit herbal and bitter which definitely detracts. The initial taste has more of a green white pepper wooden caramel thing going on. I've never been a fan of the std benriach age statements and this doesn't really change things to much in that respect.

My number 4 sample and last for this tasting. I quite like this one. As per the official tasting notes salty treacle and hazelnut. I'd rate this one a 4. Nice dram but the saltiness is out of balance with the rest of the flavours. On the day not a great as the Amrut Portonova or the 25 year Balvenie but ahead of the 30 yr Ardmore.

This is my 8th Amrut. Nearly all have been 4 - 4+ ratings and this is no exception. It was very easy to drink straight at 62.1%, however mindful of the impact drinking that high abv has on the body I watered it down substantially and it was awesome. This thing can really handle a lot of water. Strawberry jam, prunes, cacao, plum and more. It really is an excellent drop. 4.25 to 4.5 easy.

My fourth Ardmore after the Traditional Peated, Port Wood finish and Legacy. None made it past a score of 3.5 this is slightly above that but definitely less complexity in flavour and balance than the 25 Balvenie. You do get a lovely creamy vanilla creme brulee thing going on. Aftertaste is slightly sharp.

Well down to my final 10 samples..I was digging around for stuff for our holiday next week and found them tucked away. Not one to waste an opportunity I thought might as well crack a couple open given no work tomorrow. This and the Ardmore 30 year old were similar style and abv so a head to head tasting was in order I thought. I used to rate Balvenie however the last lot haven't impressed me that much. This one you get the white pepper, green wood characteristics quite strongly. It is a lovely dram very viscous and full of flavour. But a 4.6 average rating here leaves me scratching my head a bit. More like a 4 to 4.25 territory. If it wasn't for the bitter green wood finish it'd be .25 to .5 higher.

Not much subtly with this one. They have done a skillful job trying to rescue the underlying spirit which is a bog standard bland grain. The sherry casking is lovely but it can't compensate for the lack of spirit flavour or complexity. Drying and bitter finish. And that is my last ghost distillery sample finished!

Great whiskey, almost green tea, asia spices star aniseed, green apple flavour. Very unusual but great

4.25 to 4.5. Favorite of the night. Rich deep cocoa like sherry, beautiful balance and flavor. Really top notch