Even more Whisky Geekery : Talisker 10 vs. Redistilled Talisker

With my tasting faculties still out of order ( i could not tell a coke from an ardbeg supernova by sniffing or tasting. i can guarantee  you this. So better not try) with this damn flu , It’s a good time to indulge in some whisky geekery for part III of “distilled or the original, which is better”. This time with one of the better known and widely liked and revered Talisker 10. It has a huge follower base, with it’s signature peppery and earthy peat, being quite rough (in a good way), Definetly one of my go to drams, and you never catch my bar short of a bottle. cornerstone of any whisky collection i should think. We’ve heard quite a lot about Talisker in recent weeks after a new Expression called “Storm” , a NAS of it was released, and believe me i would love to do a H2H with that one, as soon as i can sniff. So watch this space for tasting notes of that one, pretty soon. As funny as it may sound I never posted any notes on this one on the blog, and no better time to do it. let’s dive in:

Redistilled Talisker 10, 45.8%, Not available commercially

Nose: Very clean as one would expect from the re-distillation with some traces of peat.

Rather earthy but on a very fruity foreground such as apples, Pear and fruit gum. rather malty.

Palate: Malt , earthy notes. With apple peel. no traces of the signature “pepper” . maybe trace of much town down distant memories of pepper.

Finish: Bitter. A bit of smoke. Ash.

Talisker 10 yo, 45.8% abv, £32

Nose: This is a whole different dram here. The fruits are almost gone. Much more masculine with Peat and quite the earthy peat that is. Charred wood, smoked kippers, seaweed and traces of apple and soot.

Palate : Waves of earthy sort of  peat. Some smoke. Leather. Damp earth.Layers of Pepper , dry.

Finish : Some Wood , malt and bitter pepper. very long and satisfying.

This is a cracker of a dram, and no wonder it is liked by so many and considered a classic. Good stuff: bold, peppery, with earthy peat and just the amount of fruit, and seaweed.  Great Bang for your buck ratio with this one, and if you have not tried, it. you should. it’s very accessible and not expensive.

Score: 89/100

The Re-distillation did take away most of those lovely aromas and flavours, making the dram much more neutral and ‘generic’ , and taking the flagship peppery peat from Talisker, is really taking the punch out. Nice experiment, guys!

Redistilled sample provided by Master of Malt.