Talisker Storm

By Barry Bradford on February 3, 2020 • ( Leave a comment )

Talisker Storm (45.8%, OB, 2019)

ABV: 45.8%
Age: NAS
Bottling: OB, Diageo
Category: Island single malt scotch whisky
Cost: £38.95 available from The Whisky Exchange
Origin: Talisker Distillery
Vintage: undeclared

What they say

Talisker Storm offers the drinker Talisker’s full maritime majesty, all unfettered elemental power and confidence.

In a sentence… An intensely dark, smoky, more brooding Talisker with swirling notes of wood, brine and spice that puts you right at the heart of a storm at sea.

Official tasting notes:

Appearance: Full gold.
Nose: Powerful, fresh-clean and growing in complexity like a gathering storm to reveal a sweet maltiness with ripe red berry fruit. Eventually well integrated mellow smoke drifts across the scene as a wild sea turns up briny, fresh clean notes, and an oily explosion of pepper.
Body: Medium.
Palate: At first mellow and rich in the mouth then quickly very spicy and increasingly stormy as the Talisker heat comes through. It’s as if the pure, tongue-coating sweetness joins hands with a deep nutty smokiness to embrace those spicier notes. The flavour is elegantly drawn out with a good balance between sweetness, smoke and salt, which is all the more evident when a little water is added.
Finish: Drier and of medium-length, with a lasting, smooth aftertaste, in which light peaty burnt embers can be found.

What I say

Another re-visit, this time Talisker’s Storm expression. Another no age statement expression released back in 2013. This expression accentuates the smoky and spicy nature of Talisker using re-charred ex-bourbon casks.

My tasting notes:

Appearance: Amber gold (10/20), medium tears and long, medium legs.
Nose: Orange liqueur/Cointreau, honey, peat smoke, mineralic, flinty, tarry ropes, shellfish.
Taste: Intensely smoky, spiced and salty, black pepper, liqourice, black jack sweeties, treacle toffee, mace, smoked scallop meat, sweet & salty.
Finish: Long, spiced, charred oak, cinnamon spice.