Talisker

Region: Island
Location	Carbost
Owner	Diageo
Founded	1830
Status	Active
Water source	Carbost / Cnoc nan Speireag (Hawk Hill)
Number of stills	2 Wash stills 3 Spirit stills
Talisker
Age(s)	10 Years 12 Years 15 Years 18 Years 20 Years 25 Years 30 Years

Talisker distillery is an Island Single Malt Scotch whisky distillery based in Carbost, Scotland; the only distillery on the Isle of Skye. The distillery is operated by United Distillers and Vintners for Diageo, and is marketed as part of their Classic Malts series. The brand is sold as a premium whisky.

History [edit]

The distillery was founded in 1830 by Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill, and built in 1831 at Carbost after a number of false starts on other sites when they acquired the lease of Talisker House from the MacLeod of MacLeod. The distillery was rebuilt 1880-87 and extended in 1900. When a new lease for the distillery was negotiated with the chief of Clan MacLeod in 1892 the annual payment was to be £23.12s and a ten-gallon cask of best-quality Talisker. It was rebuilt in 1960 after a stillhouse fire completely destroyed the distillery. The distillery operates five stills; two wash stills and three spirit stills. All the stills use worm tubs (condensing coils) rather than a modern condenser, which are believed to give the whisky a "fuller" flavour (itself an indication of higher sugar content). During this early period, the whisky was produced using a triple distilling method, but changed to the more conventional double distilling in 1928. Talisker was acquired by Distillers Company in 1925 and is now part of Diageo. After the 1960 fire, five exact replicas of the original stills were constructed to preserve the original Talisker flavour. In 1972 the stills were converted to steam heating and the maltings floor was demolished. Talisker’s water comes from springs directly above the distillery via a network of pipes and wells.

The malted barley used in production comes from Muir of Ord. Talisker has an unusual feature - swan neck lye pipes. A loop exists in the pipes taking the vapour from the stills to the worm tubs so some of the alcohol condenses before it even reaches the cooler. It then runs back in to the stills and is distilled again. Talisker now has an annual output of three and a half million litres of spirit.

Talisker was the favourite whisky of writers Robert Louis Stevenson and HV Morton. In his poem "The Scotsman's Return From Abroad", Stevenson mentioned "The king o' drinks, as I conceive it, Talisker, Islay, or Glenlivet."

Character [edit]

The malt used is peated to a phenol level of approximately 18-22 parts per million (ppm), which is quite high for a non-Islay single malt.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, the water used for production, from Cnoc nan Speireag (Hawk Hill), flows over peat which adds additional peatiness to the whisky.

The distillery began producing special bottlings of the whisky for connoisseurs in the early 2000s, with a 20 and 25 year bottling (where previously only a 10 year and 18 year were available). The 25-year bottling, despite being more expensive than the 20-year bottling, was distributed more widely.

In 2007 Talisker 18 year old won "Best Single Malt In The World 2007" at the World Whiskies Awards.^[1]

Bottlings [edit]

• 10 years, bottled off-site
• 12 years, only available to Friends of the Classic Malts members
• 18 years, unavailable in some areas
• 20 years, limited run of 9,000 bottles
• 25 years, limited run of 21,000 bottles
• 30 years, limited run of 2,958 bottles
• Distiller's edition, finished in ex-Oloroso Sherry casks
• 57° North, a bottling with 57% alcohol

Reviews and accolades [edit]

Talisker whiskies have generally performed very well at international Spirit ratings competitions and have won some acclaim from liquor review organizations. The 10-, 18-, 25- and 30-year Taliskers have been awarded mostly gold medals from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.^[2] The 10- and 18-year varieties, meanwhile, have received scores of 85-89 and 90-95 from Wine Enthusiast.^[2] Spirits ratings aggregator proof66.com, which averages scores from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Wine Enthusiast, and others, classifies Talisker's 10-year scotch in its second highest ("Tier 2") performance category.^[3]

Talisker Distiller's Edition won Best Islands Single Malt at the 2013 World Whisky Awards^[4].

References in Popular Culture [edit]

In the Hamish Macbeth TV series, (Season one Episode 4 "West Coast Story"^[5]) the main protagonist finds himself in financial trouble because 'of a great deal he got on 6 crates of whisky' which are later shown to be Talisker whisky.

In the Horus Heresy short story "The Last Church" by Graham McNeill, published in the Horus Heresy book series compilation Tales of Heresy, the two protagonists are shown drinking Talisker whisky.^[6]

In the "Edinburgh" episode of Series 1 the BBC 4 radio comedy Cabin Pressure, Mr. Birling is served Talisker whisky from miniature bottles. In Series 3, Mr. Birling returns, and this time a full-size bottle of Talisker goes missing. In the first episode of Series 4, Talisker and Mr. Birling make yet another appearance.

In the movie Charlie Wilson's War the CIA agent gives U.S. Rep. Wilson a bottle of Talisker, which is bugged and allows him to listen to the Congressman's conversations.

In "Assegai" by Wilbur Smith, General Penrod Ballantyne's favored whisky is Talisker.

In "The Guns of Navarone", the novel that gave birth to the film with David Niven, Anthony Quinn, etc., Talisker is mentioned as the preferred one of the R.A.F. S.A.Service officer, always kept in his filing drawer.

See also [edit]

• Whisky
• Scotch whisky
• List of whisky brands
• List of distilleries in Scotland

References [edit]

• Stephan Gabányi (1997). Whisk(e)y. Abbeville Press, Inc. ISBN 0-7892-0383-9. 
• James F. Harris & Mark H. Waymack (1992). Single-malt whiskies of Scotland. Open Court Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8126-9213-6. 
• Michael Jackson (1999). Michael Jackson's complete guide to Single Malt Scotch, fourth edition. Running Press Book Publishers. ISBN 0-7624-0731-X. 
• Jim Murray (2000). The world whiskey guide. Carlton Books Limited. ISBN 1-84222-006-3. 
• Talisker@Whiskypedia
• CE 6.0 - why the codename "Yamazaki" ?, Mike Hall, Microsoft Development Network, 20 Sep 2006.

External links [edit]

• Dr. Whisky on Talisker
• Johannes van der Heuvel (Malt Madness/Malt Maniacs blog) on Talisker
• Talisker Distillery Website.

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Coordinates: 57°18′10″N 6°21′22″W / 57.30278°N 6.35611°W / 57.30278; -6.35611