Talisker 175th Anniversary

In 2005, one of my favorite two distilleries, Talisker, released a 175th Anniversary edition, which says on the label that it contains some of the rarest casks on the distillery. Bottled at their traditional 45.8%abv, this is one rare bottle, only seen in auctions nowadays. On the nose, it is a little different from other Taliskers. Chocolate with some sea salt. Little smoke. Oranges and mint. Sawdust. After a first sip, the aroma changed to Red fruits: Strawberries and whipped cream. On the palate it is almost perfect. Starts with a cheap orange hard candy, lime, salt and pepper. The second sip gave me cherry tomato (that small tomato from the salads), grain salt, strawberries and lemon meringue. It is like a lemon pie. Aftertaste is very fancy and enjoyable. Heavy sawdust, salt and sulphur. It has two aftertastes, since the 2nd one rises after a couple of seconds after the ending of the first, with a lip scorching ginger note. Very good stuff. Overall, this is what you can call a fancy, very fancy dram. But, it is not my favorite Talisker. I recognize it as a different, birthday expression, full of red fruits and cream, but it wasn't your typical Skye Salt and pepper madness. Still a very elegant offering, my score for it is 91 over 100.

This dusty bottle has been just OK for me over the years. Basically, it is a bit sweeter and less peppery - not really peppery at all. Basically, a pleasant mild sweetish whisky with a bit of the Talisker edge. I prefer Talisker 10, 18, etc.