“As our legend goes, when the tides at Talisker Bay flowed with an unusual force, a luminous creature was drawn from the blackest depths, flooding the deep-sea darkness with its captivating glow. This powerful luminescence was carried on storm-tossed currents to the Talisker distillery, illuminating its new-make spirit. In that spirit too, the vivid luminosity shone, its classic smokiness fading before a radiant tide of spice-bright sweetness rarely seen.” Erm. Jellyfish. Sure. Straight to it then… N: Deep and purposeful. This is the sea spray soaked wooden timbers of a battered ship: tannic, briny, slight seaweed and iodine. Waxy furniture polish, lemon peel, vanilla and warm toasty malt. P: Oily, viscous and with a salt driven textural element. Peppery with a trend towards the chilli catch of most Talisker. A gentle crisp sweetness of lightly caramelised apple or pear is the backing for a salty and tannic smoke. The smoke leans towards bbq but doesn’t get too carried away. Tannins stay behaved and bring warmth and a slight darkness to an otherwise quite bright and lively sweet malt. F: Long. Drying, tannic smoke feeds into more salt and gives way to lasting chilli. A drop of water does little to the nose but is transformative to the palate. Fruity sweetness comes crashing forward and takes the oily textural mouthfeel almost away completely the salt becomes more mineral driven and stony but some of the furniture polish depth, tannic smoke, and touches of bbq are lost for me. Drink this neat, although saying that, i think i just found apricot in the palate, thats bright and unexpected. I’m all out of Talisker. Well, new ones anyway. I’m happy to see T10, Surge, Storm and Parley X on my shelf. I will confirm, Island malts are reigning supreme for me. Talisker are almost unwaveringly brilliant. They have had a few misses in my mind (Port Ruighe, Skye) and some ‘just good’ fare (Storm, T15 2019), but on the whole they are just excellent. When that salty smoke hits it is transportive. Wild seas, crashing waves, salty spray, sea monsters. Bring it. The bbq smoke, touches of sweetness, deftness of touch from tannic wood. My word those Skye folk know exactly what they are doing. Truly like the luminescent jellyfish of the abyss, Talisker could suck me in and drown me in its depths beguilled all the way. Distiller whisky taste #263 [Pictured here with a little clutch of corundum (rubies) to round out this run of Taliskers with rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. These are from Madagascar and I should probably tell you that they are really old, formed from the metamorphism of some mud under stupendous pressures and temperatures and are ] Talisker running scores: T10: 4/5 T18: 4.75/5 Skye: 3.25/5 Port Ruighe: 2.75/3 Storm: 3.5/5 Dark Storm: 4.25/5 Surge: 4/5 57 North: 4.25/5 X Parley Wilder Seas: 4.25/5 T8 2018 Special Release: 4.5/5 T15 2019 Special Release: 3.5/5 T8 2020 Special Release: 4.25/5 T8 2021 Special Release: 4.5/5 T11 2022 Special Release: 4/5