Talisker's oldest edition
The Talisker distillery and its products have been celebrating success for years, at least since the debut of the Talisker 10yo version as part of the Classic Malts of Scotland in 1988. In this classic set, Talisker 10yo represented whisky made in the Scottish islands, presenting a slightly smoky profile with clear influences of the liquor's coastal provenance. To this day, the first thing said about Talisker is that it is "made by the sea" (made by the sea).
Yesterday, the Talisker distillery announced the release of the oldest whiskey in its portfolio to date, Talisker 44yo Forests of the Deep. There are many indications that this is an unusual whisky not only because of its age. For behold, this whisky has undergone additional maturation in oak casks described as "marine" (marine oak casks). This is not about some next special and unique variety of oak. We are talking about traditional American oak (Quercus alba), which, however, has undergone a special marine treatment using dried Scottish seaweed and shavings from previously used barrels. The staves fired with them were used to assemble barrels, in which a certain batch of whisky from the Talisker distillery was then subjected to additional maturation.
The whole thing is the result of the distillery's collaboration with Parley for the Oceans, Talisker's partner in marine and ocean conservation. As part of the jointly organized project, the oak staves were taken on an expedition to the world's largest underwater forests near the Cape of Good Hope, where activists, scientists and filmmakers took a series of underwater walks among the seaweed in The Great African Sea Forest. It was these staves that served as the building blocks of the barrels in which the Talisker distillate eventually rested.
Talisker 44yo Forests of the Deep is to commemorate the contribution of the Scotch whisky brand to the protection of marine ecosystems to mark World Oceans Day, which falls on June 8, established by the United Nations in 2008. Indeed, this was not the first time that the Talisker brand has been involved in protecting the natural environment of the seas and oceans.
The whisky was bottled as a liquor with a strength of 49.1% vol., and the barrels prepared as described above were enough to fill 1,997 bottles. Buying a single bottle costs £3,800.
Last year saw the release of a year younger edition, the Talisker 43yo Xpedition Oak: The Atlantic Challenge. To date, this is the oldest edition of Talisker. In its case, too, the sea voyage was made by oak staves, which were later used to assemble the barrels used for the final maturation of the whisky. Here it was about a voyage across the Atlantic on a yacht under the command of the famous traveler James Aiken.
As mentioned in the introduction, in 1988 Talisker 10yo was chosen to represent the islands region in the Classic Malts of Scotland set. The collection of six malt whiskies representing each region for many represented their first exposure to the diversity of Scotch malt whisky and laid the foundation for today's popularity of single malt whisky. It then included Glenkinchie 10yo (Lowlands), Cragganmore 12yo (Speyside), Dalwhinnie 15yo (Highlands), Oban 14yo (Western Highlands), Lagavulin 16yo (Islay) and just Talisker 10yo (islands). The islands region - which, after all, did not formally exist from the point of view of the Scotch Whisky Association - at the time included only a handful of distilleries. These included Jura, Highland Park, Scapa, Tobermory and Talisker, not counting the Isle of Islay distillery, which is a separate region. Since then, the "region" has doubled in size, and more distilleries are either in the pipeline or just getting ready to expand their whiskey offerings. The first new island distillery was Arran (today named Lochranza), and it was joined by Abhainn Dearg (Lewis), Isle of Harris (Harris), Raasay (Raasay), Lagg (Arran) and Torabhaig (Skye). The launch of the latter necessitated the rebranding of Talisker, which is no longer the only whisky maker on the Isle of Skye as of now. Distilleries located on the island of Barra and in Shetland, which have so far only produced gin and other spirits, are also preparing to launch whiskey production, or bring it to market. Island's Scotch whisky offerings clearly gaining momentum.
The House of Whisky Online offers an impressive collection of whiskeys from Talisker. We invite you to visit and see the contents of our shelves. There you will find whiskies for everyday consumption, as well as impressive collector's specimens, official editions and those from independent distributors.
[18.05.2022 / photo: Diageo]