Talisker from frozen barrels
Diageo-owned distillery Talisker has just announced the release of a new edition of whisky. It waited as long as 45 years for bottling, and finished maturation in barrels truly remarkable.
Talisker Glacial Edge 45yo is the third and final edition prepared as part of the Xpedition Oak Series collection, jointly branded with the charity Parley for the Oceans. At the same time, it is one of the oldest editions of Talisker ever to see the light of day. The only older edition was a whisky from the 1976 vintage, released last year as part of the Prima & Ultima series.
However Talisker Glacial Edge 45yo is a whisky unusual for another reason, because of its innovative, unprecedented way of preparing casks for final maturation, the so-called "wood finish. wood finish. For this edition, 12 heavily fired American oak barrels were prepared and shipped to Canada, far beyond the Arctic Circle. The bottoms were removed and left for 4 full days at temperatures well below freezing. Due to the effects of frost, the surface of the oak staves has cracked, thereby increasing the surface area of the wood's effect on the whisky. The barrels were then taken back to Carbost, Scotland, to Talisker's warehouses, where they were filled with aged whisky. The beverage was given extra time to penetrate the charred surface of the staves, as well as additional gaps caused by cracking of the wood in Arctic conditions. This gave it a chance to acquire deeper spice and sweet accents.
The aforementioned 12 casks made it possible to prepare an edition limited to 2455 bottles of whisky bottled in its most natural form - without dilution, that is, with a strength of 49.8% vol., without cold filtration and without caramel coloring. The retail price of a single bottle has been set at £4,500.
Talisker, until recently the only malt whisky distillery on the Isle of Skye and one of the few in the northwest of Scotland, has been working for several years with the charity Parley for the Oceans, whose main goal is to protect and rehabilitate the seas and oceans. As part of this collaboration, limited editions of Talisker Xpedition Oak 43yo and Forests of the Deep 44yo were recently released on the market. More accessible - especially in price - is Talisker Wilder Seas, finished in cognac barrels, which debuted this year.
Talisker Distillery was built on the shores of Loch Harport Bay in eastern Skye. The island is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland, and its connection to the mainland results in a huge influx of tourists every season, eager to see unparalleled landscapes. When in the late 1980s. In the 1970s, United Distillers (now Diageo) was launching a then-innovative set of single malt whiskies called Classic Malts of Scotland, Talisker 10yo was chosen to represent the Scottish islands. Admittedly, according to the division adopted by the Scotch Whisky Association, such a region does not exist, and the islands are formally part of the Highlands, many Scotch malt whisky enthusiasts use it in their regional classification. The Classic Malts of Scotland set has been an incredible market success, making a major contribution to the spread of the single malt Scotch whisky category among Scotch whisky consumers. For huge crowds of lovers of the drink at the time, they were an introduction to a completely new and then little-known world of aromas and flavors of single malt Scotch whisky. In addition to Talisker 10yo, it included Oban 14yo (Western Highlands), Cragganmore 12yo (Speyside), Dalwhinnie 15yo (Central Highlands), Glenkinchie 10yo (Lowlands) and Lagavulin 16yo (Islay).
Talisker Distillery has been open to the public since 1988. It has recently undergone a major upgrade of the tourist section, being part of a larger Diageo project to introduce its customers traveling in Scotland to the plants that produce m.in. for the Johnnie Walker brand.
The current offerings of the House of Whisky Online include a wide selection of Talisker single malt whisky - from daily editions to rare and collector's specimens. We invite you to visit.
[03.11.2023 / photo: Talisker]