Talisker Skye

My beef with NAS whiskies is a simple one - too many of them are inferior replacements for age statement bottlings marked up for way too high a price. Talisker, to their credit, seems to have found a better way - continue to release age statement whiskies, charge less for NAS (or at least fair prices...your market's pricing mileage may vary), and use the NAS expressions as a means of branching out and exploring other ways of living into their distillery style. Here, they pull the lever back on the peat to reveal another side of Talisker. Grainy sweetness, caramel apple - very bright and fresh - open up the palate before the signature pepper, sea spray, and peat smoke drift in. This could be a trainwreck, but it works quite well. It's not going to supplant the flagship 10 Year, or the Distillers Edition, but then again, it's also not trying to do that. It's just out to show you the Isle of Skye - simultaneously beautifully gentle and forbidding - through the lens of its signature malt. Well worth trying if you get the chance.

smooth peat.