DISTILLERY Talisker

AGE Ten Year Old

ALCOHOL 45%

REGION Isle of Skye

COLOR Sweet, sweet amber

NOSE Totally awesome, potent and peaty as fuck

PALATE Like being punched in the face by someone who has lathered their fist in pepper, also smokey like you’re inhaling a campfire

FINISH Loooong, sharp note that leaves your tongue tingling

SCORE

90 out of 100

NOTES In 2009, I was given a bottle of Talisker as a farewell gift from work colleagues in Sydney and I’ve been hooked on single malts ever since and this remains one of my favourites to this day.  In fact, I was so drawn to the peaty taste of the Talisker 10 Year Old  than initially, I just saught out similar Isle whiskies.  It took about another year before I got more adventurous with single malts.

The beauty of Talisker and what makes it a good introductory whisky is its complete lack of subtlety.  The nose on this bad boy is super strong and the palate is stacked with so many different tastes that anyone should be able to extrapolate something from it and appreciate the rich variety of flavours that a single malt is capable of.  Then once you’d had a sip, it sits in your mouth and leaves an aftertaste for another fifteen seconds for you to think about.  Beautiful.

And at the end of the day its still pretty modestly priced.  For my money, the best entry level whisky you could try.