Talisker 57º North

There's not much information out there concerning its aging or what types of barrel the distillery uses, but this is not just stronger Talisker 10. It is quite different in flavor. On the nose, the overwhelming trio of flavors are brine, herbal and ginger tea, and farmhouse mustiness. My wife picked up on the maritime notes more and described it as "fish scales." There's definitely something to that. The palate is sweeter than the nose and picks up a grapefruit note, but the herbal, ginger, maritime, and peppery kick of Talisker continued barreling ahead at full steam. The finish emphasizes that ginger tea aspect to it and has a tinge of cough syrup flavor that did not thrill me. With a little water, more of the oak and wood tannins assert themselves. This is an expensive bottle, pushing $100, and strikes me as similar to what a cask-strength Ballechin would taste like.