Talisker Friends of the Classic Malts

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.