Talisker The Wild Blue

A distillery bottling of Talisker and bottled at 48.2%. Set at Carbost on Skye's wild west coast, Talisker has distilled since 1830. Its 10 year old was chosen as the Island malt of Diageo's Classic Malts series.

Distilled in tall stills with U shaped lyne arms and condensed in worm tubs, from peated Glen Ord malt, building the smoky, briny Skye character. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood adding a light sweetness under the peat. Carrying no age, it leans on peat smoke, brine and a black pepper kick. Years in oak round the smoke, the pepper and brine settling with the wood. An old visitors book records guests calling since the turn of the last century. Medium peated malt from Glen Ord gives the smoke, the water from the Hawk Hill springs. After a stillhouse fire in 1960, the five stills were rebuilt as exact replicas. The distillery faces the water across to the hills of Skye.

At a hearty 48.2% it carries real weight. A coastal peat smoke and a peppery lift ride over a vanilla from the refill oak beneath. The texture is oily and full, the smoke threaded with salt. A long, warming, peppery finish lingers. This is Talisker's smoky, peppery Skye style.