Monday 2 December 2019

Talisker 1979 Cadenhead's Sherrywood [Road to #1000, Review #984]

Hi everyone,

Earlier in the year, in California, I had the pleasure of meeting some great whisky people that work for JVS distribution and share some whiskies.
Actually, a few of these Road to #1000 whiskies are from them, starting with this Talisker that Elijah very kindly brought to a tasting for me to try.
Now I’ve always wanted to try an old indie Talisker, especially from a Sherry cask but I was warned that this whisky was vile and undrinkable by someone else, while Elijah himself was a little more optimistic.

Talisker 1979 Cadenhead’s 60.8%
Colour: Amber
Body: Full
Nose: Dirty, sulphurous and vegetal, damp wood, wet and damp walls, damp mouldy concrete, burnt heather and match sticks. Big sour balsamic vinegar, raspberry vinaigrette and spiced orange. Love the nose, despite the obvious sulphur.
Taste: Dry, weirdly wine-y, raspberry syrup, oak and smoke and then more sweet with orange. The weird notes are hard to ignore here, the sulphur having a pronounced effect.
Finish: Medium length. Sweet and kinda flat, dry, orange and a little black pepper.
Bottled at 18yo. Not exactly a balanced style of whisky and people will absolutely hate it, particularly if they are sensitive to sulphur. Cool nose that the taste doesn't really go with.
73/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #826
Whisky Network Review #984

Network Average: 75.1
Best Score: 94
Worst Score: 12
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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