Talisker 'Storm' NAS

[galg]

Nose: A lovely melange of young fruity notes with quite some peat and sprinkle of pepper. Sweet malty notes and a bit of mint and seaside air to add another dimension. The nose does feel young but well rounded and balanced.

Palate: A lot of smoke on the palate here , with big chunks of earthy peat. Much more than the 10 year old. After the initial peat and smoke impact more fruity tones are revealed with pear and berries and a salty edge. Another swirl in the mouth reveals a certain nuttiness that follows the fresh ground ‘signature’ pepper. We’re dealing with a Talisker, after all…

Finish : Quite long, nutty and peaty, soot and hint of fruit.


Very impressive stuff. It’s very different than the 10, while maintaining some similarities (mainly the earthy peat and pepper), but on a very different scale. It’s different, and that’s good since it’s a very good dram. NAS or no, spectacular work on behalf of Diageo (yes, it’s me Gal. I’ve said a good word about Diageo, i know. slap me). It’s going to be a very solid seller this one in shops. It shot up to the top of my “to get” list for the near future. All i can say: do yourself a favour and try this one. I am pretty sure you would think it’s worth your time and your coin. Don’t expect it to be the best dram of your life, but it’s good. damn good.

[kallaskander]

Nose: Strange. Youth and ripeness at the same time with the youth gaining a steady lead. Restrained peat and not too much smoke. A little sweetness and a bit yeasty. The fruit reminds me of sherry cask bottlings but is not very well defined. A bit of wood oak and spice and faint traces of something rubbery. Not so faint on second thought.
After a while it struck me as similar to the Ledaig 10yo – of which I think it would be a great whisky if it were 12 yo or older.
With a little water the nose turned Ardbeg-esque. I thought of the NAS Ardbegs of recent years and of the last Uigeadail with the L12 bottling code I have tried. A pleasant surprise which rises high hopes. A nice malty sweetness and peaty at the same time.
But it does not last long. It turned to a slightly sweet-smokey sensation with the yeast coming back again and a subdued fruitiness. Usually an overdiluted sherry cask whisky smells great and shows weakness only in the glass. Here it showed as winey and grapey notes.
I nosed some 57° North to contrast my impressions and realised how little Talisker-like the storm seems to be.

Mouth: Initially appearing more compact and coherent. Does not appear young at first, nice sherried sweetness and a peatiness quite a way beneath Bowmore level even, nice enough at first and not overpowering not agressive and not like Talisker 10yo at all. Yeah, not like Talisker at all. It lacks the lava of the Cuillins effect and lacks many more things I would have expected even after the nosing. With a little time the duplicity of youth and age appears again, becomes yeasty again. Not so coherent anymore. A little sherry a little herbal, sweet and ever so slightly pepperry. I find no smoke and only very subdued peat.
With a little water there is not much left to talk about. Sweetness a bit more pepper alcohol - peat and smoke if there was smoke are gone.

Finish: To quote Michelle Shocked: short sharp shocked. Weak and watery and sharp – and no it was not too much water. Pepper lingering the longest.
A little later it was still sweet but with a not so nice note of bitter smoke or too much tannins.


Not a malt for me it seems. But it was not sulphurous in the least.