Talisker Managers Choice Cask: #7147 1 Of 582 bottles 58.6% 1994

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Serge Valentin (90)

From a Bodega Sherry European Oak.

Colour: gold.

Nose: we’re extremely close to the Hart Bros at first sniffing but this baby gets then a tad rounder and a little more chocolaty and leafy. Also more notes of fresh oranges and walnuts, even a little passion fruits. It’s also very powerful when neat but not ‘un-noseable’. The regular ten is the most ‘coastal’ so far. With water: nah, this one got very coastal now. Soot, tarry rope, seashells, seaweed and orange zests. Not exuberant, though. Walnut skins. It got also very flinty.

Mouth (neat): starts unexpectedly smooth but hits harder and harder after that, unfolding like a flower in a fast-motion video. Smoked candied citrus fruits, should that exist. Hints of oysters and clams in the background. With water: well, I reduced it down to +/-45% and it now tastes just like the regular 10, only with a little more pepper (various kinds).

Finish: very long, on crystallised oranges, mustard, salt, pepper and peat. The aftertaste is quite kippery (kippers sprinkled with lemon juice.)

Comments: excellent, kind of a cask strength version of the latest 10yo, just a notch below most 20/25/30s. BTW, I noticed that several of these new Manager’s Choice were ex-bodega sherry casks but none is a sherry monster as such, the sherry influence being very, very (very) discreet. What kind of cask is it, exactly? I’ll try to ask…

Words of Whisky (91)