14/04/2025 Supermarket whisky

Talisker 20yo 1981/2002 (62%, OB Limited Edition, Sherry Casks, 9000b, b#5117): nose: phwoar! It has a drop of dark chocolate that has no hope of masking a big slap of saline, maritime air. Brine, sea spray and the lapping of the sea against the rocks. At the same time, it does not have any of the cold that a sea wind might bring; instead, it offers the warmth of a coal stove. Empty coal buckets (which means sooty tin), warm logs covered in dried lichens, a distant drop of ink, black sesame seeds, and, over time, lemon juice sprayed on limescale. This is rustic, easily seen as austere, yet rather welcoming, for who knows how to approach it. The second nose cranks up the maritime smells for half a sniff, then adds a couple of lemon drops, which totally transforms the whole into a (chocolate-)custard-y number, certainly the most-unexpected metamorphosis in a whisky. We have fleeting tropical fruits too, smoked and so fleeting that I struggle to identify them. Smoked pomelo? Green passion fruit? Lastly, a pinch of cracked green pepper appears. Mouth: well, it is a bit of a brute, yet tOMoH cannot see anyone placing it above 60% without knowing. In fact, the Bourbon-matured twenty-year-old released the following year felt more powerful, despite having a lower ABV. Scorched earth, black sands heated by the sun, crushed seashells sizzling on the beach, licked by sea water. Indeed, this has 'sea water' written all over it, salty, briny, yet warm too: we are not in the North Atlantic, in terms of temperature, rather in a sunny place, unexpectedly. With the whisky swirling around the mouth, the tongue ends up picking ground black pepper (it is a Talisker, is it not?), but that is well in check. The second sip feels like ingesting a mugful of peppery sea water. It somehow feels stronger than the first, not just briny, but fiery. A romantic soul may picture a longship going up in flames on its way to Valhalla. A foodie, on the other hand, may find pastrami-ed salmon. Chewing, though, unveils heated flooring glue -- tarry, creosote-like. That is right: this one turns petrochemical with repeated sipping. Finish: pepper is at its loudest, here, yet it is still easily overlooked. Indeed, it is supplanted by molten dark chocolate slowly caramelising, or even burning, and rightly smoky as a result. The maritime notes are less in-your-face, in this finish, and, if we spot grilled seashells, they are coated in smoked chocolate. Scratching one's throat after swallowing releases greasy earth augmented with a pinch of garam masala. The second gulp is more petrolic, just like it was on the palate. Tarry sands, rockpools hit by a black tide, melted chocolate "enhanced" with melted plastic. Although that last note adds complexity, it could make it complicated for some. The death sees a surge of flooring glue, melted linoleum, or even warm tyre, all kept cooler by splashing them with sea water, once in a while. Regardless, it radiates warmth for ages, this one. tOMoH still prefers his Talisker over forty years of age, or distilled in the 1950s (or earlier), but this is undeniably excellent. 9/10 (Thanks for the sample, cavalier66)