Ever since hubby has introduced my brother in law Henry to whisky, he's been expanding his collection. Hubby has become the biggest beneficiary as my sister often invites us over for dinner and the guys end up with a drink (or two) afterwards. The other night we went over for dinner again, and Henry treated hubby to his latest purchase.
Talisker Distillery is on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, which is most famous for its beautiful rugged landscape. It is connected to the main Scottish island by a short ferry ride or a bridge making it a very popular destination for visitors. I actually went to Talisker Distillery some years ago, but that was after we had visited quite a few distilleries in Scotland. And a bit like Thai temples or Italian cathedrals, once you've seen a few they're all the same!!
Anyway, back to the whisky. The Talisker Skye is a single malt, 45% ABV, matured in American oak casks, and has a peaty smoky flavour. The marketing pitch behind it is all about the sea, and the maritime landscape "fresh citrus, sweet smoke, peppery spice and traditional Talisker maritime notes."
Peaty whisky isn't normally hubby's cup of tea (or whisky should I say), but he was very surprised with the aroma. First impression was that it wasn't as overpowering as some of the other smoky whisky he's tried before, and surprisingly it was easy on the palate. He didn't mind it at all. Henry said this was on offer in one of the supermarkets, reduced from £40+ to around £25 so he picked up a bottle immediately. Hubby agreed this was a good value whisky at this price, but not at the original price.
Hubby let me try a little sip as I needed the whole experience to write this whisky tasting post😊. Normally I don't like the smell of whisky, it's like they all knock me in the head immediately, but this one was a bit more gentle even though it had a peppery note. I only had a little sip, and even for me, I felt it wasn't as sharp as other ones I tried. I could taste a hint of a sweet honey flavour, but there wasn't an awful lot of after taste, it had a short finish.
Henry bought another bottle of Talisker during his previous cruise holiday called the Dark Storm. You can see at the top of the box it says Travel Exclusive which means it's only sold at airports or cruise ships. That's also a single malt, but is more intense than the Talisker Skye. He hasn't opened that bottle yet, but no doubt hubby will be there when he does.
The other thing I found out when writing this post is something called the Talisker Tasting Experience via Alexa. Hubby bought an Alexa this week on Black Friday sales despite my minor objection (men and their toys 🙃). Apparently you can ask Alexa to open Talisker tasting and it will launch a video and sound track that takes you through the whole drinking experience and the background of the whisky. The service was launched in 2018, so it's been around for a while, but we've only had Alexa for a few days, so only learnt about it now. I wouldn't be surprised if other distilleries have the same service. Do you know about this Alexa thing for other whiskies?
