Everyone always has that one teacher or mentor that makes such a striking influence on the individual that it makes him / her make their career choice. A choice that we end up living with the rest of our lives. Think about that. How strong must that influence be so it guides a person to a choice of living for decades? Whether explicitly or not, we all have had one in our lives. For me, it was Mr D in 5th grade. I used to skip school and go to the parks where I gambled with senior citizens over chess. This could’ve gone wrong in so many ways. He could’ve called my parents ( who probably wouldn’t have cared, at least I wasn’t doing drugs). He could’ve simply expelled me. He could’ve forced me to sit through class. But instead he figured “ if this kid is cutting class to gamble with 60 year olds over chess in the park, we need a more creative solution”. So—-he introduced me to writings by Shelly, Poe, Hardy, London, and Hemingway. He introduced me early on to chemistry and physics. Finance and economics. Looking back, because of him, I went for my Chemical Engineering degrees and MBA. We all have one such individual. So...there comes this bottle. While I was scouring the vault looking for a few bottles to share with @Richard-ModernDrinking, I came across two 3cl vials of this old Talisker. I remember buying the bottle way back in 2008, and I loved it so much that I saved two samples to enjoy at a future date. This may not have been my first whiskey ( that was a Glenfiddich), but it was the one that charted the way for me to get a passion for whiskey. It was the one that changed a casual drink at a bar into a passion. It’s my Mr D of whiskey. I used one of my two samples to try it again and see if it really was as good as I recall. Wow. This is hands down the best Talisker I’ve had, and maybe top 3 Whiskey. Aromas of old school library next to a craggy Maine seashore. Worn leather books, salty sea air. Taste is more of the same, plus seaweed, burnt leather, cigar vault. Simply amazing. I’ve no idea if this is still available, but if it is, it’s a worthwhile purchase. Twenty one years of a Talisker in a Sherry cask will do wonders.