My first exposure to Talisker was years ago at a tasting where my experience with scotch was the small world of Johnnie Walker and Glenlivet. Talisker 10 just blew me away. Talisker 18 is one of my all time favorites. This Talisker through TRE was provided by the extremely knowledgeable @Generously_Paul through our SDT group which has now been long completed except by me. Now enough my background, onto the whisky. Its golden colored. A dense nose that contains notes of earthy mineral, rubber and a maritime brine. Grilled apricots, honey and a pinch of pepper. There is an rubbing alcohol quality that hovers with some malty sweetness. The initial sips arrive harsh and abrasive like sandpaper. The scratchy sensation dissipates and turns to pepper and sugary sweetness and fruitiness of apricots and pineapples. There are notes of lemon zest and charcoal that are more exposed towards the finish. Water tempers the spice which allows the sweetness to push forward. Scotch fog (not a mist) is quite apparent. What remains on the palate for a medium length of time is a drying oak, black pepper, charcoal and some bitterness. This is a spicy one. The Talisker pepper notes and readily available, however, it lacks a comparative depthness to the classic 10 and to the obvious 18. For me, this is closer to the Storm the the aforementioned but lacks the smokiness. A spot of water is all that is needed, if you wish. Anything more weakens the dram. All in all, still enjoyable and I thank @Generously_Paul for this sample as my (lack of) travels prevent me from coming across this one. [87/100][Tasted: 2/8/19]