It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a travel retail exclusive bottle as it seems my international travel has waned a bit over the last year. I think I only have 1 TRE left unopened in my collection...I’ll have to do something about that soon. So on to the particulars. Turas-Mara is Gaelic for Long Journey (fitting for a whisky marketed towards travelers), bottled at 42% ABV and is chill filtered and has colorant added making it an amber honey color. It’s finished in a combination of bourbon barrels, Bordeaux casks and ruby port casks. There is a small flavor wheel on the box with the categories “Light & Delicate”, “Peated (light and heavy)”, “Rich & Full-Bodied” and “Rich & Intense”. Turas-Mara falls under the last category. Let’s see how accurate that is, shall we? The nose opens with apples and apple juice, clear and defined, with a cinnamon stick thrown in there. Musty charred oak with what I can only describe as hickory, and even though the flavor wheel claims this isn’t peated, I detect a hint of peat. More fruits in the form of tangerines, grapes, strawberries and light port notes. Vanilla cream, caramel and honey with some brown sugar. Malty buttery biscuits, slightly nutty like peanuts and light bourbon notes. Plums and mint chocolate, somewhat perfumed and some light red wine notes rounding out the experience. Nothing bad about the nose at all, just everything was on the subtle side and took a lot of coaxing to come through. The palate hit me like a ton of bricks after the light nature of the nose. Spicy, musty oak, again with the hint of peat. Dry red wine, red grapes and maraschino cherries. Dry roasted peanuts, brown sugar, creme brûlée, cinnamon and nutmeg. Vanilla, plums, peppery spice, mixed berries, apples and pears. A medium bodied mouthfeel that is creamy and semi-dry. The finish is medium long, spices, oak, vanilla and plums. The nose on this one was pleasant enough, albeit on the underwhelming side, but the palate was overly spiced and not all that enjoyable. For the price, $90 for a 1L bottle, this was a big letdown. Jura takes a lot of heat for being overpriced and overhyped. Can’t say I disagree with either point. I would say this is worth a try, but definitely not a buy. 3.25 Cheers