Talisker 8 Year Cask Strength

I’ve somehow managed to get this far in my modest whisky review journey without having previously reviewed a single expression of Talisker, the popular single malt from the Isle of Skye. Surely that must be a crime, and I ought to have my whisky reviewer license revoked. Yes, a Talisker review has been on my to do list for a while, as I have bottles of both the 10 year old and Storm sitting at home, with tasting notes already jotted down. For one reason or another though, I’ve never quite gotten around to it. And I’m still going to bypass those two bottles for now, instead to look at a recent Talisker release—the 2018 limited edition cask strength 8 year old.

I’ve got nothing against Talisker, but it’s not exactly my favorite Scottish distillery. I almost always have a bottle of the 10 year at home, but seldom reach for it. It’s not that I dislike it, not at all. Rather I just need to be in the right mood for the malt from Skye, and I find I’m seldom in that mood. Nonetheless, Talisker 10 seems like one of those single malts that every whisky fan should keep in stock, and so I usually replace it when I do finally empty a bottle of its contents (I’ve probably bought two bottles over that last five years… yeah, I don’t drink it quickly). The 10 year is a perfectly good dram, with coastal sea salted caramel and that rather distinctive Talisker black pepper note. It’s a dram that never really disappoints, but also never really wows.

I’ve long thought Talisker would benefit from a cask strength bottling. The powerful “made by the sea” coastal vibe combined with caramel and pepper just seems to scream for a higher ABV than the typical Talisker 45.8%. Someone at Diageo must have heard my thoughts, as this year they added a cask strength 8 year old Talisker to their annual special release range. Great news! Now for the bad news—it was a UK only release. Ugh. I still managed to get a bottle thanks to a UK retailer that ships to the US (there are still a few of those), but if you’re not in the UK and you’re not willing to order whisky on the web, then you’re probably out of luck. For that matter, you’re probably out of luck at this point anyway, since I believe it’s mostly sold out in the UK (not sure about that, but I’ve been led to believe it went pretty quickly across the pond). Nonetheless, maybe in the future we will see a world wide release of a similar Talisker. Given the seeming success of this year’s special release, it would certainly seem to behove Diageo to get this whisky out to the rest of the world. Let’s hope.

A quick note about the whisky itself—in addition to being aged 8 years and bottled at cask strength (at a hefty 59.4%), it was matured entirely in “deep charred” first fill ex-bourbon casks. No sherry or refill bourbon here. So how does this young cask strength island dram perform? Let’s see.

Talisker 8 Cask Strength Review

Type: Single Malt Scotch
Region: Highlands (Islands)
Age: 8 years
ABV: 59.4%

Nose

Peppery and coastal. Crisp morning air. Moderately light peat smoke… it’s no Islay brute, but the peat is there at least a bit. Burnt rubber. Vanilla wafers. Leather. Caramel. Powerful and interesting.

Palate

The typical Talisker black pepper note is front and center, along with sea salted dark caramel (and loads of it). Sea shells and sand. Sweet pipe tobacco. A bit earthy. Some peat. A touch of lavender. Somewhat big bodied with a full and oily mouthfeel, nicely mouth coating.

Finish

Long and a little spicy. Cinnamon. Caramel. Sea salt and brine. And more black pepper, of course.

Overall

This is typical Talisker amped up a notch. There really is a massive amount of that good old Talisker black pepper note, so if that’s something that turns you off, you should probably avoid this whisky. Personally I find it engaging and quite enjoyable, at least when I’m in the right mood. It may not be the most complex whisky in the world, but it is certainly tasty. I’m a sucker for whisky with pipe tobacco notes, and there is as much of it here as nearly any malt I’ve had, save for a 1970s distilled Tomatin that is one of the most prized bottles that I own.

The first fill bourbon casks seem to have struck just the right amount of influence for Talisker here—the wood doesn’t overpower or dominate at any point, but rather sings with the malt in harmony.

This 8 year Talisker really is quite good, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my bottle (and yes, I’ve consumed it much more quickly than I typically go through a bottle of Talisker 10 year old). Perhaps I should have bought two. Hopefully Diageo will give us another bottle next year—or even better, make it a permanent part of the Talisker range.

SCORE: 7/10

Final Thoughts

There are rumors—or at least speculation—that Diageo included this Talisker 8 year in the 2018 special release lineup in order to test the waters for the whisky world’s appetite for such a dram, similar to the way they originally released Lagavulin 8 year as a limited release before adding it to the core lineup. I hope this is the case. In my opinion, this young (but still age stated) cask strength version is a big step up from the standard 10 year old expression (and a giant leap up from Storm). Heck, I might like this one even more than the 18 year—Talisker really is quite good at cask strength. I could see this expression being on several “best of 2018” lists in award season. It’s at least a contender for best of any of the special releases this year, as it blows away the special releases from Ardbeg, Laphroaig, and Balvenie (although that’s not saying much, in my opinion).

Buying Advice: If you happen to have the opportunity to buy a bottle at MSRP (or close to it), it’s well worth the price, assuming you’re a fan of Talisker and their big black pepper and sea salt notes.

Drink This Not That: Drink this. If you’re in the mood for a coastal, peppery dram, Talisker 8 Cask Strength is hard to beat.

Questions about my scoring system? Refer to the Review Method & Scoring Scale page.

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