Talisker 8 YO Special Releases 2020

Talisker 8 YO Special Releases 2020

Uniquely finished in Jamaican rum casks, this relatively youthful Isle of Skye whisky has a rich sweetness, with bananas and brown sugar on the finish. Wow!

This is an adventurous release from Talisker, the Islay distillery that carries its maritime character and marine scents in every release.

For this Talisker 8-year-old bottling from the island’s oldest working distillery, they chose a pot still Caribbean rum cask to finish the single malt. It’s the youngest bottle in the 2020 Special Release series from Diageo but it caught the eye of most fans very quickly, for its promise of rich character and exotic sweetness.

The Skye distillery’s colourful character can easily carry the weight of a malt rich dark and exotic flavour profile, so much so that this distillery on the island’s west coast is already considered an outlier among its peers.

Tasting notes

Aroma

Talisker 8-year-old makes itself felt on the scent first. With lots of caramel aromas above a smoky barbecue base, it immediately promises a dark and exotic sweetness. Marine scents and peppery layers are present too.

Taste

The taste, hugely rich with exotic sweetness of warmer climes, is also rich in maritime character. Peat, seaweed, vanilla and brine assemble beneath the molasses and coffee-flavoured top notes.

Finish

There’s a powerful peppery finale to this pour that conveys the scents and peppery punch you’ve already encountered. The combination of sweet and salt in this malt, rich in maritime personality, is a pleasing match that lasts to the finish.

Diageo’s Special Release series is an annual outing for its member distilleries. The Talisker 8-year-old is a welcome member, with the distillery having graced the series in previous years, but often with much older vintages. This adventourous release allows the Special Release 2020 to have a bottle within its range that packs a peppery punch but also allows the very best of the pot still Caribbean rum character and the sweetness of warmer climes to emerge.

Talisker distillery, licensed since the 1800s, operates on the shores of the Isle of Skye. Consequently, its output is rich in maritime character. The scents and peppery punch of its single malt are already well recognised and the character this adventurous release conveys merely strengthens that. Rich, dark and exotic, Caribbean rum casks bring their own personality to the table in finishes of this sort and perfectly suit a malt rich in maritime flavours.