Jura 18 Year

Take some bottom-shelf whisky, mix in a cheap strawberry flavor fruit punch and then try not to gag. That's the Jura 18 experience without the cost of the actual whisky. If this had been around when Orwell wrote 1984 on Jura, he might have substituted it for the rats in room 101.

This review is for the recently rebranded Jura 18 year old. The entire line has been redone and reimagined, with new finishing casks, higher ABV’s, even bottle shape and label redesign. This new 18 year old is matured in American white oak casks and advertised as being finished in “quality” red wine casks. It’s also bottled at 44%, instead of the old, standard 40%. It’s still chill filtered and has added color, however. I decided to give this one a try because it was on sale from a European online shoppe for $74- great price for the hefty age statement. It’s amber orange in the taster with watery, fat legs and smells of cherry, gummy candies and cough syrup right out of the bottle. Uh oh. After some appropriate time (15-20 minutes), I think I can detect real fruit and ripe berries, some light spearmint and very weak oak notes. The zing from the mint doesn’t do enough to overcome the candied sugar note- and that isn’t good. The palate starts out tasting like real cherry juice, but it’s thick and oily and a heckuva lot harsher than any 18 year old has any business being. A mushy, malty backbone does its best to limit the sugary mess but the only thing that could save the mouthfeel now would be a heavy hit of oak and pepper or just plain, old ABV heat. Too bad neither are anywhere to be found. The finish subsides after a good while, I’d call it medium-long, but this is one I wish would’ve just gotten over and done with quickly. The ABV shows up late too, and turns things overly hot and astringent. There’s nothing redeeming about any part of the entire tasting experience. Which leaves me sorely disappointed. Cherry candy and minty syrup do not even make good cough syrup- much less a palatable whisky. If I have to find a bright spot, well...it was only $74 for a bottle. If you need an 18yo whisky on your bar to show off to your friends for cheap and don’t mind having to mix this with 7Up- well...this stuff is for you. Everyone else should stay away- far away. 1.5 stars, with .5 of the score being for the price tag. Cheers.

Very Tempu