hello malty modest meek and multi malt mates and thank you to richard dominic for providing the
malt mention introduction to ralphie review 903. today i'm reviewing for you uh and it's
been a wee while since i've spent some time with talisker but here it is the talisker 18 year old
single malt i've poured a glass to let it settle in the glass and oxidize and settle
down and open up and all these wonderful things so stay up so as to get a better experience
and i'm going to review it for you again um talisker is now not the only distillery
on the isle of skye but for many years it has been and it's had its own distinctiveness
often accompanied by the perceptions of its remote location as a distillery it's a small distillery
hugging the west coast coastline just next to colon mountains one of the most spooky areas
of rural scotland that you'd like ever likely to find very particular place you always got to watch
it when you're a hill walking up in the cooling mountains on sky because they're really quite
treacherous underfoot at times so take note i'm not worried about any being treacherous underfoot
with this malt i'm familiar with telescope uh i used to be that the 10 year old was one that i
had regular acquaintance with but then i went and fell out of love with talisca for a while
because some rough versions came in to the 10 year old range and then shortly thereafter
there was non-age statements including talisker storm and talisker port rui
and frankly i didn't enjoy them as you would expect the early versions the first batches
were quite nice but very pleasant they had quality but subsequent batches weren't so sparkling
and quite simply when you walk into a whiskey shop you spoiled for choice but the real choice
it's not what we used to want it's what we know we're going to enjoy the most if we buy it
and that is the art of appreciating whiskey it's going on that flavor
chase so i'm coming back to the 18 year old talisker after a significant period of time
partly because it was a finalist in the category of best single malt scotch whiskey
in the 2021 oswas the online scotch whiskey awards and you will find the link down below in the
description box and i've poured away glass just to give you the technical details it's 45.8 alcohol
uh don't tell me what don't ask me why it's not 46 they're making it 45.8 0.2 of a percent
what's the difference what's the point precisely it is chill filtered and there is in my opinion
caramel coloring additive added because it's got that slightly orangey fake tan glow about it
but if it's going to be shortlisted as a best single malt of the year by onliners well it's
got to be taken seriously if you refer to the box that it comes in which is a fairly heavy duty
standard cardboard box the azure are pretty professional about their boxes to be honest
it really doesn't give you much information except to see that it's made by the sea now
i just want to kind of put this into perspective for you because i do feel that it's misdirectional
now what you've got on not so much in the bottle the bottle the bottle's actually a
a label that's not changed much over the recent years thank goodness but on the carton you've got
this crushing salty seascape you see it obviously there and there and there and then it says on the
front of the box and on the bottom of the label made by the c the suggestion and implication is
that the whiskey's been made by the sea and frankly in my opinion this is not the case
now technically the owners of this distillery are not lying but it depends on your interpretation of
maid the new makes spirit is made by the sea but new made spirit is not whiskey
whiskey is made in warehouses in casks for a legal minimum period of time of three
whole complete years that is the law now where are the warehouses for taliska well
talisker has some nominal storage facilities at the distillery but most of it is stored
and matured and turned into whiskey at black grange so just do black grange whiskey as a
google search and google maps and you'll see them basically the largest warehouse
station in the whole of britain when it comes to maturing liquors and it belongs to diaz i mean
i see the sense when you're a big corporate multinational you consolidate things
you centralize things it gives you more control it helps you cut costs but to say that
it's made by the sea isn't quite giving the full picture and unfortunately to my to me anyway it
comes a lot cross as a little bit disingenuous and it probably a good idea to lose that because
increasingly people pick up on these details although they're meant to be trivial basically
disingenuous marketing you know it's like mountains and streams
and all the rest of it is the cultural appropriation of location for convenience
but in the meantime i know it's chill filtered no it's got a drop of caramel color in it but
it is an 18 year old whiskey which is far more accessible and importantly affordable than many
other 18 year old whiskeys this in the uk you can easily buy for under under 100 pounds a bottle
there are plenty of other 18 year olds out there where there are 120 140 280 pounds a bottle
and if a whiskey is too expensive or appears or seems to in your opinion to be too expensive
my number one recommendation is that if you think it's too expensive don't buy it
simple as
are plenty of options there has never been more choice in options than as there is now knows
some spicy phenolics quite [ __ ] a little bit of coal tar and a mild splash of iodine
i'm definitely getting that west coast phenolic thing
that i've previously referenced funnily enough in ben nevis single malts in the
heavily painted version of ben nevis i think the style is very similar to talisker
there's a particularly rich sultana note i wouldn't call it quite as fruity as raisin
but there's a rich slightly toffeed sultana note with figs in it as well notes of fig
and some very mild creamy mintiness
and green herbaceous notes including a little drop of sage and some mild ginger
already the nose is coming across as quite complex
and i've not eaten even added any water yet so it's still a bit uptight still closed up
well made generic whiskey that's had its wings clipped
the only reason it's a little bit thin i mean thinning the palette i'm going to rewind a wee bit
let's pull the rod in a little bit before i'm going ahead of myself here
the initial impact is oh that's a short event there's a surge of phenolic spicy
sultana at the arrival and then it quickly just falls away through the development
some mild ginger some baked apples a little bit of mild banana in the background
strong phenolic still holding in there spicy phenolics into a slight lemon drop finish
um which doesn't hang around i'm gonna add a drop of water here because as a neat whisky
sure you'll get the flavor get plenty flavor but you're simply not getting the whole whole event
and the whole event is more than the flavor it's the delivery to your palate
the length and the substance of the arrival the length of the development and the length of the
finish and each and every time a single malt is still filtered the length of the development
and the length of the finish is shortened for a very simple reason that you don't
have the mouth fuel to sustain the delivery on the palate and nobody i guarantee this
nobody out there is going to have the kahunas to challenge me in this perception because i'm right
three milliliters of water hey it's almost 46 but not quite not quite an integrity whiskey can't
call it that not being chill filtered the chill filtration is really is taking a dimension away
from it no doubt about it however in my opinion and this is what my channel is about purely about
opinion the reason talisker 18 shortlisted as for the world's best single malt whiskey
on the online scotch whisky awards 2021 link below is simply because it is an accessible available
older age stated drum at an accessible price if it was my choice it wouldn't be on that list
no chance but it's a competent whiskey it doesn't deliver all it can be there's no chance of that
happening not the way it's processed and i think the problem is that people just don't have that
point of reference you've got to use proxy points of reference and imagine say aaron 18 year old
what would it taste like if it was chill filtered and caramel colored what would it taste like
no but nobody's going to argue with me nobody not a single person not even in the industry if they
know what they're talking about is going to say actually i i love iron if it was chill filtered um
and they removed the color and the chill filtering process and remove some flavor and remove the oils
and remove the the long chain proteins which contribute so much to the flavor oh no no
well it may be a little bit less a little bit less no no i'm telling you right now it's not a little
bit less it's a lot less this whiskey could be so much more it could be so much more than it is and
it is half decent it is a decent some reasonable jobing casks in here nothing spectacular
but what's carrying this for everybody is the strength of character of talaska
it's exactly the same with lagavulin and the fact that istchill filtered and coloured up and it's
only with some of these quite expensive limited edition bottlings in which that process has
been minimized and reduced if not cancelled out completely that you actually can tangibly spot the
difference when you put the glasses side by side we can't compare this to an independent bottling
a telescope for the simple reason independent telescopes are very very rare rare is hen's teeth
in fact the last time i brought an independent bottle of talisker it was called tactical now if
you're any of you malt veterans out there you'll know how far back we're going with that one anyway
i've given it plenty time with the water let's conclude here a smell and a taste and a mock mark
wonderfully
dry sweetness it's not sour it's not bitter
the sweetness is modified the intensity of the spiciness coming through with the
sultana note and the figs it's modified it's more measured it's a bit more paste
it's restrained for what it can be
with the power of the phenolic composition this is a restrained delivery of talisker without a doubt
much bigger than the rival not a little bit bigger no no no no big bit bigger than the arrival
that's spicy warmth and citrus note some slight aromatic is visible where it was
invisible whilst it was neat just wasn't there now it's there and that's moving into the development
which is get a bit more crisp baked apple some mild ginger some baked scorched banana actually
scorched or sauteed banana and the finish some soft ginger and lemon lemon oil and lemon rind
so a little bit of touch of bitterness and brine a hint of brine in the background
but the bride is more suggested and i have to warn you suggestibility is a big component of flavor
particularly if you've only been around whiskey for four or five or more years
we're very suggestible we're very easily prompted as to what we think is there what we imagine is
there and it's only with experience you can become more confident in objectively analyzing things
one final sip
really good complex arrival bold good balance of sensations
definitely pt the development is medium should be longer it would be longer if it's unchill filtered
and the finish is a little bit light bright and swift in the finish which kind of pulls
the whole thing up short um it would be more if the casks used for maturation but
in my opinion of better quality but that i have to stress is simply an opinion so mark
i'm very happy to give this a nice tasty 85 out of 100 and that mock mates
is a simple basic mock mark not integrity can't be there you go i hope you've enjoyed
this review if you want to pop back shortly for ralphie review 903 extras
i shall be talking a little bit more about the usefulness of the online scotch whiskey awards
um from the point of view of a beginner coming into whiskey someone with a few years experience
and someone who's very experienced so i'll be dividing that review into three parts to help
you get more out of what is the quite simply now that i know it's his first year but
it's the biggest dedicated online whiskey awards on the internet that's what it is and um
i look forward to presenting that uh ralphie review 903 extras see you then miss
clicker clicker click go click don't tell me it's playing up again