Sydney Whisky Show May 20th 2023. Whisky #16 Nose: Crème brûlée, candied preserved fruits, honey, warm spiced cookies (powdered ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and caraway seed) straight from the oven. Dark cherries and boiled Christmas plum pudding appear after repeated sips together with a subtle maritime note and a puff of smoke. Palate: The arrival is chock full of caramel stroopwafels, milk chocolate and vanilla flavoured mascarpone (so yeah, I was hooked instantly). As it develops, stewed apples topped with cinnamon sugar and cream appear along with honey, tinned peaches and a gentle trace of smoke. The texture is oily and mouth-coating. Finish: Medium. Some grassy notes emerge in the late palate with mild spices, honey and a pinch of salt being the last flavours. This was one of a pair of confusingly branded Jura 21 year old releases that came out in 2019, jointly marketed and boxed as “Time & Tide”. The “Time” expression (which I have not tasted) was TWE only and the “Tide” variant was for retail distribution. I don’t know if there was a difference between them and I have no idea why the distillery did things in such a confusing way. Just how confusing is reflected in the postings for the two whiskies here on Distiller - look at the thumbnail illustrations and you will see that they have been swapped around. Anyway, this is a very pleasant whisky that I would happily buy were it not so outrageously expensive. It has complexity but is also very gentle and easy to drink, which may make it seem simplistic at first taste, but you need to persevere and get to know it. I returned to the Jura stand twice to get repeated tastings of this and it appealed more each time. It has the same sort of “complex simplicity” as very old grain whisky. If it was priced at AUD$250 I’d snap one up but for just under $400? No thanks. “Very Good” : 86/100 (4 stars)