Talisker Storm 45.8% | Whisky Lady

Talisker jumped on the NAS marketing bandwagon some time ago… and has its fair share of fans and detractors for their expressions.

Recently, we sampled the Talisker 57° North 57% and were not massively impressed with the ‘sardines on saltines’ experience.

A few years back, I took a gamble on the travel retail Talisker Dark Storm – Storm’s deeper charred sibling. Sampled blind when first opened, it was found rather yummy. Sampled later, less flattering… but as time went by, strangely it’s burnt wood medicinal quality became a popular party favourite til the last drop.

So what then of its earlier Stormy avatar without the extra ‘dark’ barrel charring?

I just so happened to sample it as part of a peaty themed evening with the lads over at Winnipeg’s The Cabinet.

Impressions from the evening?

Nose – Some sea breeze with our peat, iodine sweet, surprisingly ‘fresh’ with a hint of pepper
Palate – Watered down sweet peat, strangely not smokey, pleasant though a little ‘rough’ around the edges, back to the briny quality
Finish – Sweet, dry with vestiges of peat

Overall? Sweet peat, understated with a ‘raw’ alcohol quality, a sense of being under developed.

For myself? I found myself wishing I could try Dark Storm and Storm side by side… Which would win out?

What did the lads over at Winnipeg’s The Cabinet have to say:

It was with a great deal of trepidation that I selected a bottle of Talisker “Storm” for this evening. Don’t get me wrong, Talisker is a true classic, but their forays into marketing department driven branding make The Cabinet nervous. Storm? What does that actually mean in a whisky context? Only rainwater collected in winter gales used? Distillery now placed on a herring trawler? Fie.

But no matter. We decided that the poor master distiller had this name forced upon a product that he still created with the same care, attention and craftsmanship as its more sensibly named predecessors. And we were right.

Here was balance. Here was complexity. Here was the sea and the land and the peat and the wood and everything we love about scotch whisky. 7.7; high up in the Three Drams range.

And oh, the medicinal effect? Talisker is well known for its ortho-cresol content. Ortho-cresol as in creosote. As in coal tar. Toxic, corrosive, kind of nasty and oh so tasty. And quite the opposite of healthy. We just had to cap the evening by being contrary.

Read on for more Talisker tasting experiences….

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Some folks know that I originally hail from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada though long ago adopted Mumbai, Maharashtra, India as home.

During my June 2016 trip back to the ‘Peg, I had several whisky treats – not the least of which was a most enjoyable evening spent with the lads from “The Cabinet” – a venerable whisky tasting group based in Winnipeg.

During an earlier trip several years ago I had the distinct pleasure of joining a Cabinet session and was introduced to their constitution, traditions and lore. Since then these merry men (and yes they are ALL men!) have further evolved during their 9 odd years of gathering.

They update a chalk board that lists what currently resides inside “The Cabinet“, which is unlocked precisely at the given hour and the session is called to order.

As guest, I had the pick of the open bottles to whet our whistle before the real evening commenced. Purely as it is increasingly rare to come across a bottle, my eye spotted the Rosebank 21 year… What can I say? I’m a sucker for indulging in discontinued distillery samples when the opportunity arises!

Post my selection, we had a decidedly peaty tour with the room scented with peaty smoke. Our host shared insights from his most recent Scottish whisky tour and even managed to acquire ‘peat pellets’ from Manitoba, wondering why oh why isn’t there a good peaty single malt made in Manitoba?

The Winnipeg “The Cabinet” evening featured:

The lads at The Cabinet maintain a most amusing blog and already have their post on the evening published! It is, quite simply, a ‘must read!’ and can be found here: “Peat”

Thank you again gentlemen and I look forward to our continued tasting adventures!