As one of the biggest TV shows in recent years, Game of Thrones already had its own massive following, and there was a good chance that a portion of that following were partial to the odd whisky. But come release time the amount of 'GOT' fans, who were not necessarily also whisky fans, that were hunting down the full set of bottlings was very surprising. Even more surprising and a little sad was the insane numbers of those full sets that were then listed for resale on whisky auction websites in short order. But while a few of these bottlings were simply renamed & repackaged standard bottlings (the Cardhu, Lochnagar, and Dalwhinnie), the others were new expressions which seemed quite promising. Unfortunately one of those, and probably the most promising, the Clynelish expression, has not yet made it to Australia because of a potential trademark issue. Apparently it may still be coming at a later date, and I hope that's the case, because it was the only bottling in the series to be bottled at over 46%, and higher-strength official bottlings of Clynelish are few and far between. That gap in the line-up left two of these bottlings on my wish list; the Talisker and the Lagavulin. Both were bottled at a decent strength (45.8% and 46% respectively) and had favourable reviews from the US, where these bottlings were released in the latter half of 2018, and the Lagavulin is the only bottling in the entire series to feature an age statement. The series took considerably more than six months to arrive in Australia, which left the door open for opportunistic retailers to parallel import and then ask ridiculous prices, and while other opportunistic retailers have now decided to reach for the stars with their pricing because of the demand, the majority were selling for quite reasonable amounts at $100-130 AUD across the range.
Each of the Game of Thrones whiskies was named to represent a 'house' or family from the series, but rather than matching the distillery styles with the those families, Diageo decided to try and match the geographical locations of the distilleries with that of the families' seats in the fictitious country of Westeros, which roughly follows the layout of the British Isles. So while a few bottlings didn't seem to suit their namesake characters, one in particular just happened to be pretty much perfect. Which was Talisker Distillery on the Inner Hebridean Isle of Skye, off the west coast of Scotland. This release was named for House Greyjoy, whose seat is on Pyke in the Iron Islands. I haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting Skye, but from what I've seen it looks almost exactly like the mental image you imagine (or briefly see on your TV screen) when thinking of the Iron Islands. Isolated, weather-beaten and slightly intimidating, but also unspoiled, ruggedly beautiful and strangely alluring. Likewise Talisker's character closely matches that of "The Ironborn", being proudly fierce, salt-washed and austere. The Ironborn sent raiding parties to the mainland for supplies - and also entertainment - in the story, while Talisker, despite a notable maritime influence being present in some of the bottled whiskies, freights the vast majority of its spirit to the mainland - in tanker trucks - for filling into casks for maturation, and sources all of its barley from Glen Ord Maltings on the mainland. So neither Pyke nor Talisker is quite as isolated or independent as it would seem at first glance.
Talisker Distillery has quite the unique setup, with their medium peating level of around 20 ppm, and from their odd number of five stills, two wash and three spirit, to the oddly-shaped lyne arms and purifiers on all of those stills, to the worm tub condensers used on all five of those stills. It's this setup that is thought to give Talisker its signature peppery flavours and full-bodied style, while the salty and maritime edge is a little mysterious due to that aforementioned maturation in centralised generic warehouses on the Scottish mainland. The distillery produces some very enjoyable bottlings, particularly the 18-year old and non-age statement 57 Degrees North in my opinion, and the first Talisker whisky to feature in Diageo's annual Special Releases program, a fantastic 8-year old cask strength bottling, was released in 2018. I was lucky enough to taste it in Edinburgh during my most recent pilgrimage in October 2018, and also picked up one of the last bottles at The Whisky Exchange in London a couple of days later. It has since landed in Australia, some seven months later, and has all but sold out completely. It is actually my favourite Talisker to date, and I highly recommend attempting to chase down a bottle and/or a dram if you're a fan of the distillery.
To use its full and long-winded name (which is quite apt for Game of Thrones), Talisker Select Reserve House Greyjoy Single Malt is a non-age statement (NAS) bottling, bottled at the usual Talisker strength of 45.8% ABV. Unfortunately it has been chill filtered and artificially coloured, like almost all official bottlings from the distillery, and like all of the bottlings in the Game of Thrones series there is very little information on the actual make-up of this whisky. There's absolutely no useful or specific information to be found on the (admittedly attractive) packaging either. But a quick Google reveals that it was fully-matured in heavily charred ex-bourbon casks, although we don't know if that refers to the re-charring of refill casks or heavily charred first-fill casks. I would assume the former however, since Talisker is rarely matured in first-fill casks. What's interesting here is that Talisker's main travel-exclusive expression, Dark Storm, is also matured in heavily charred casks, and is bottled at the same strength and without an age statement. I'm not insinuating anything there, and for what it's worth - from memory - the taste of this newer whisky is different, it just strikes me as interesting that this expression seemingly follows the same recipe as a bottling that has been around for a few years now. Let's see if the Drowned God would approve...
Special bottling for Game of Thrones. Matured in heavily charred ex-bourbon casks. Chill filtered, artificially coloured.
*NOTE* This whisky was very closed (very little overt aromas or flavours) and uptight when first opened, and couldn't be reviewed (or enjoyed, really) like that. This review takes place four weeks after the level was below the bottle's shoulder.
Colour: E150a amber.
Nose: Very muted & closed, even after extra breathing time. An icing sugar sweetness with some vanilla bean, some freshly chopped mild green chillis, a little black pepper and honey, and a touch of sawdust. A bit prickly too, but that's probably because I'm having to bury my nose in my Glencairn to get much out of it.
Texture: Medium weight, but lightly flavoured. No prickly heat here at least, it's mild and a little flat.
Taste: Things pick up here, thankfully. That same vanilla sugar sweetness initially but it's gone in a split second, turning quite dry with a puff of dry, earthy peat, more black pepper and a slight salinity. A nice savoury game-y meaty-ness as well, something like salted roast beef.
Finish: Short, and flat. That fresh green chilli note comes through, and the black pepper & honey do too, along with a dry minerality. But that's all folks.
Score: 2.5 out of 5.
Notes: Easily the mildest Talisker I've tasted to date, in terms of volume of flavour and aroma. Even compared to the NAS entry level 'Skye' expression, which was already very sedate. The nose on this GOT bottling is barley there, and although it's definitely improved since first opening it takes quite a lot of work to get anything substantial from it. The palate is much more enjoyable, and surprisingly dry and savoury too which I enjoyed. And then it all falls over when it comes to the finish. Given a choice between this House Greyjoy expression and the flagship Talisker 10-year old, I'd be reaching for the 10 every day of the week. It's also $20-25 AUD cheaper, bottled at the same strength, and in my opinion also a little older. And it's definitely a far better example of Talisker's distillery character and house style.
I'm a Talisker fan, but despite their reasonable bottling strength some expressions can feel like they've been diluted down, almost as if they're trying to hide or reduce the distillery character in order to appeal to a wider audience. And that seems to be the case here, which is a shame, but plenty of other distilleries do the same with some of their expressions. All is not lost for distillery fans though, aside from the dependable 10-year old there's also the excellent 18-year old and the 57 North expressions to go for, and the excellent 8-year old cask strength bottling that only recently landed in Australia, and sold out very quickly. The wine cask-finished Distiller's Edition is enjoyable as well, offering a different twist without overwhelming the whisky.
But let's remember, in the big scheme of things it doesn't really matter how good this whisky is. It would have sold out just as quickly regardless. This Game of Thrones bottling series wasn't aimed squarely at us hardcore whisky geeks, or at the weekend enthusiasts. It was aimed at fans of the show and also general collectors, who may occasionally drink whisky. And with that in mind, they've definitely ace'd it. This Talisker expression included. All of these whiskies sold out very quickly, which has probably opened doors (or floodgates) for more of this style of commemorative bottling in the future. Although a good portion of that stock subsequently appeared on auction sites in short order, which is unfortunately becoming par for the course with any special release whisky these days.
Cheers!
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