The one bottling in the 2022 Diageo Special Releases that immediately caught my eye. Why? Because it's a reasonably-priced, cask strength, ex-bourbon cask Talisker that is natural colour and non-chill filtered. Which is a winning formula!
The packaging has stepped even further into the cartoon realm with these 2022 Special Releases, which as usual have arrived in Australia just under a year after their release in Europe. There are quite a few departures from the norm in this latest batch; adding virgin oak casks to the venerable Lagavulin 12-year old, adding a PX & Oloroso sherry finish to a 12-year old Clynelish with a hefty price tag, and releasing a 26-year old single grain whisky from Cameronbridge Distillery which retails for a very ambitious $599 AUD. What is not a departure from the norm perhaps is a very expensive non-age statement Mortlach release, this time featuring not only virgin oak casks but also two different varieties of sweet fortified wine cask, and retailing for $420 AUD. It's great that Diageo is giving Mortlach some well-deserved attention, but if I can speak for the whisky nerds of the world, all we want is a teenaged Oloroso sherry matured/finished Mortlach, with an age statement, that allows the distillery to live up to its legendary moniker of "The Beast of Dufftown". The 2023 Special Releases were recently unveiled in Britain, and thankfully both the packaging designs and the cask treatments have seemingly been dialled down. Despite the size of the company, Diageo certainly does seem to react to customer feedback, or even predict it! Besides all of that, these are still cask strength, non-chill filtered and natural colour releases from some of Diageo's most highly regarded distilleries, many of which are among Scotland's best. But I'm getting off topic here, we should be talking about Talisker!
From the outset there were two bottlings in the 2022 releases that immediately appealed to me, not only because they're the cheapest / most reasonably priced of the bunch! These were the 10-year old Oban that was finished in Amontillado sherry casks, and the 11-year old Talisker that we're looking at here. We've been treated to some delicious Taliskers in the Special Releases over the last five years; starting with the fantastic 8-year old from 2018 that was matured in heavily-charred first-fill bourbon barrels, then a delicious 15-year old in 2019 that was matured in re-charred refill ex-bourbon barrels, followed by a slight departure in 2020 with an 8-year old rum cask finish, and then the 8-year old refill cask from 2021 that was taken from their "smokiest reserves". When the news first appeared about this 2022 bottling I was rather excited, partly since it was a little older at 11-years, but mainly because it was matured in bourbon casks. Specifically, the packaging states: "Lightly peated stocks from ex-bourbon casks". However, as is sometimes the case with Diageo's Special Releases, some of the press release blogs & also plenty of retailer websites seem to have gotten a little confused, and are stating that this whisky was matured in both ex-bourbon casks and ex-wine casks. Both the packaging and Diageo's official whisky site (malts.com) don't mention wine casks in relation to this Talisker, and to my palate there's no overt wine influence in the whisky itself. Furthermore, I can't see Diageo adding wine casks to a Talisker special release, which would be quite a big deal, and then neglecting to mention it on either the packaging or on their own website.
Being the whisky pedant that I am, I had to find out! So I reached out to Ewan Gunn, Diageo's Senior Global Brand Ambassador, to ask if he could confirm. Ewan was very helpful when I reached out to clear up the confusion that surrounded the brilliant 2019 12-year old Cragganmore special release, where many sources were wrongly stating that it was merely matured in ex-peated whisky casks, rather than the spirit itself being distilled from peated barley. Come to think of it there was a similar issue with the 15-year old Talisker released in the same year, which some had misinterpreted as being fully matured in virgin oak! That time Colin Dunn, Diageo's Whisky Brand Ambassador for Western Europe, came to the rescue and helped clarify that this was certainly not the case. This time Ewan has once again been extremely helpful, and even went so far as to contact the actual blender who signed off on the vatting for this release! Said blender confirmed that this 11-year old Talisker was matured solely in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill, and there was no wine involved.
Many whisky cynics like to think of Diageo as some faceless & soulless corporate monolith, and that its employees have all been enslaved towards the ultimate goal of global domination. In my experience that's really not the case, the staff that I've come across at the company's distilleries in Scotland have all been warm & welcoming, and passionate & professional. Now we have some pesky small-time whisky blogger in Brisbane, Australia, contacting Diageo's senior brand ambassadors in Britain and questioning details on whiskies from the previous year/s. Rather than being told to go away or being ignored completely, both of these gentlemen have promptly gone above & beyond to find the answer/s and set the record straight. Both Ewan and Colin deserve to be commended for their fantastic work that to my mind exemplifies what a brand ambassador should be.
So, we have an 11-year old cask strength Talisker from the Isle of Skye. It has been fully matured only in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill, and bottled at 55.1% ABV without chill filtration or added colour. Retail pricing in Australia is around $190 AUD, which is very reasonable in this day & age. Summarising Talisker in twenty words or less; lightly peated, wooden washbacks, purifiers on spirit stills, worm tub condensers, sea salt & black pepper, coastal & delicious. Side note before we get to the review, you may have noticed that this 2022 release states that it's from "lightly peated stocks" while the 2021 8-year old stated "from our smokiest reserves". Talisker only makes one spirit which is peated to around 20 ppm, so these labels are referring to the flavour profile of the casks that were in the vatting/blend, rather than a different peating level in the spirit itself. Tasting time!
Fully matured in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill (no wine casks involved). Non-chill filtered, natural colour.
Colour: Gold.
Nose: Fresh, fruity, and briny. Green olives in oily & salty brine, crumbly & sharp mature cheddar cheese, sweet vanilla fudge, and warm sandy beaches. Touch of tinned peaches & pineapple chunks in juice. Green chilli flakes (trademark Talisker), golden malted barley, sweet lemon zest, and dry & ashy wood smoke.
Texture: Medium weight. Oily, spicy, smoky. Slight heat but it works.
Taste: More tinned peaches & pineapple chunks in juice, and sweet lemon zest. Sweet vanilla fudge fades quickly into table salt, white pepper, and those green chilli flakes. Dry wood smoke with hot ash, and a touch of melted salted butter.
Finish: Long length. Mild green chilli flakes and warm sand carry through, with the melted salted butter and olive brine following along. That ashy wood smoke is softer now, more of an undercurrent. Golden malted barley, tinned fruit, sweet lemon, and a flash of almond frangipane (almond pastry cream filling) to finish.
Score: 4 out of 5. Just over the line maybe, but it's there.
Notes: An easier, lighter take on young cask strength Talisker. But there's no loss of distillery character, and the cask influence is kept nicely in check. That blender mentioned above has certainly done a good job with this one, if you ask me. It's possibly a little sweeter than expected, probably that lighter style showing through, but there are good doses of the trademark Talisker salt & pepper and that green chilli fruitiness that I love in the good examples of the make. It's still undeniably coastal as well, despite the widely lamented mainland maturation for the vast majority of Talisker spirit. Both Talisker and Caol Ila are great examples for the "terroir" and "there's no salt in whisky" arguments, with good talking points for both sides of the debate!
Getting back to this 11-year old Special Release, it easily beats both the 2021 and 2020 8-year old releases if you ask me, and I'd put it on par with the 2019 15-year old. It's different in style to all of those of course, but quality-wise this 2022 release is a serious player. That said, it can't hope to square up against the 2018 8-year old, but there are few who can. That was almost a freak of nature, and it was released nearly 5-years ago now in a very different whisky world. It's still my favourite Talisker of all time (even over the cask strength 25-year old, but don't tell that bottle's owner) so it's not a fair comparison. That said, this 11-year old is probably the closest in style of all the subsequent Talisker Special Releases to date, and at ~$180 AUD here in 2023 it's holding up very well. Talisker fans will not be disappointed. Highly recommended.
Cheers!
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