Talisker Distillery

On our recent trip to Scotland, we spent a couple of days on the Isle of Skye, the largest of the western islands. Yes, it rained, but in fact the locals told us they had had virtually no rain the previous ten weeks. Besides hiking in the Cuillens, we spent an afternoon on a Connoisseur's Tour at Talisker Distillery (tour info is here), which provides a more in depth look at the distillery and a tasting of their core range of malts. Fiona, our guide, provided us a great overview of the workings of the distillery, including the standard explanation of the distilling process one would expect on the tour. We couldn't go into the room where the wash-backs (where fermentation takes place), because the CO2 levels were elevated. But we did see the wooden cooling tanks out back where the spirit is cooled after it goes through the wash stills and spirit stills (Talisker has two of the former and three of the latter). Fiona told us that the warm period coincided with their maintenance period this year, so by the time they restarted the distilling process, the cooling tanks had dried out and sprung leaks. The dry spell on the island meant that their dammed water used for cooling had run low and they were down to two distilling runs a week, as opposed to their normal average of 16 runs a week.

We then were taken to the warehouse they have on site. This is a little unusual, because all Talisker spirit is tankered to the mainland for cask filling and bottling, so bringing casks back to the island for aging and then back to the mainland for bottling is frightfully inefficient, but then you might not get that island spirit. Fiona pulled the bungs from two 1979 casks to allow us a whiff (that's me above filling the olfactories). The one on the left had a sweet, port-like smell, while the one on the right of the picture was more like a dry sherry. Both were distilled in 1979, but had completely different smells. Amazing to experience first-hand.

I was surprised to hear that Talisker adds caramel coloring to their whisky given the vociferous chorus of connoisseurs railing against the practise. I'll admit that I don't believe I have such a sophisticated palate to tell when color has been added.

We closed out our tour with a guided nosing and tasting of six drams:

• New spirit (74% ABV)
• The ten year old
• The distiller's edition (which is double matured, the last three years, I believe, in sherry casks)
• The 18 year old
• The 25 year old
• Cask strength edition (no age statement) that's only available at the distillery.

It was really fun to compare the drinks side-by-side and see how they evolved in the glass over the course of nearly an hour. The new spirit is not for drinking, of course, but that trade-mark pepper and sea salt is present from the beginning. The distiller's is great for the softening the sherry brings. Fiona swooned over the 25 year old, but I admit that it took so much water to reduce the nose prickle and bring some smell out, that the flavor was too muted. Thankfully I was not bowled over by the 25 year old -- though I secretly hoped I would be -- because it sells for 105 pounds a bottle (more than $200 at present exchange rates). I was not going to buy the 10, distiller's edition, or the 18 year old, because they are all available in the US, and are much cheaper here than in the UK. I liked the cask strength once it opened up, and at 50 pounds a bottle (minus 5 pounds discount for the tour) it was a much better deal. Plus, it is only available at the distillery.

I'm glad we made it to a distillery this time. I don't think I could do a series of distillery tours, but a couple of others definitely interest me (Bowmore and Highland Park as two of my favorites, and Aberlour because it has purportedly a great distillery tour experience, besides producing a great whisky).

Slainte!