You 100% right but i think you're too optymistic 😎🥂 p.s. serious question: what is wrong with Talisker? I was shopping Tesko yesterday and Skye been priced £48 at standard not discounted price but 10yo was for £30 on sale and that situation is almost all the time. 🤷♂️😁🥂🙋♂️
@@peatbull3426 In IT Development there is a thing called a 'Minimally Viable Product ' and now we see it in the Whisky Business. Give me the minimal thing we can call Talisker 10 😀
I said the same things about Lagavulin 16 4 or 5 years ago after a couple of flat batches... but I went back to a 2023 batch last summer (found an amazing price) and wouldn't you know it, it's a total banger. I wonder how often we misidentify a lackluster batch - which happens, and will always happen - with a broader sea change in a bottling.
I was drinking this pretty much daily while travelling recently. I started mixing it 2-1 with Drambuie over one big ice-cube and it made a tasty Rusty Nail.
Still buy it. Still drink it. Don't care much about labels and colors. Might be a little batchy at times. Like the salt and pepper, the dirty whisky style, not too sweet, no sherry, moderate peat. Still a regular on my shelf.
Although I prefer the old bottling but the new Talisker quite good in value given the price of single malt today. If you leave a dram in a air conditioned room, it does turn a little cloudy. There is still some life left in the new Talisker 10.
Certain whiskies should be re-reviewed. There are essential bottles that most are going to try or buy at some point and Talisker 10 is certainly one of them. I bought a bottle of the new label and I completely agree that it's 'meh'. All these Diageo Classic Malts of Scotland are between $70-$80 these days and are hard to justify with the exception of the Lagavulin 16 which is closer to $100 but also much better than the others.
Great re-review Geoff. I picked up an older release of Tali10 when I was in banff a couple of years ago and it was good. It lasted me over a year and stayed just as good as first opened. I did not crave for getting a replacement though. It sounds like and judging by what's going on with the re-branding, re-labelling, re-releasing, all of that is doing more harm than good to some of these distilleries and that is truly sad!
Hi it's me, your viewer Koby. You have a nice price tag for it. The cheapest talisker 10 here costs 48€. 18 is 230€. I only had the new talisker 10, but it was a fun bottle, maybe I don't have the reference point of the old one. Thanks for the video 📸
€48 is pricey! Not as bad as some other markets, but I'm definitely lucky to live where I live with regards to pricing. The 18, sadly, is now expensive pretty much everywhere. It's about €200 here as well. I used to buy it for €130. Cheers buddy! 🥃
I had been saving some older bottles from 2018 as a benchmark so when the new branding came out, I got one to try side-by-side. I liked the new one better back then so I got a couple more. I have not made a more recent purchase though.
I bought this a few months ago. I loved the coastal aspects of it, but to me it lacks sweetness to a degree that hurts it bad. Feels a bit hollow because of that. Still eagerly awaiting your review for the Talisker special 11 years, which, since it is more heavily bourbon influenced, I hope will have more body and be sweeter. Haven't received super reviews though
A couple of days ago I bought a bottle of 16th year bottling at some hidden store for $50! Great luck! And let him stand in the very far corner of my bar, waiting for his finest hour!
Recently bought a bottle of the current Highland Park 12 after exhausting the supply of pre Viking Hype bottles from my local dusty bottle shop. It smells and tastes absolutely nothing like the older bottles. I realize that the HP rebranding happened quite a few years before Talisker. Luckily, the shop had old 12's, 15's, 18's & Dark Origins bottles sitting neglected, and I bought and drank all of them over the last five years. Love what Highland Park was, but I think they were top dressing the older vatings with older casks and that practice is over. Cheers
@@Gwhisky I think the liquid in the bottle is a victim of their success. The volume of old stock they had to make the core range bottles great is gone or was diverted to the ridiculous amount of nas special releases they have been putting out during the Viking Hype period has made it all pretty bland compared to the older bottles. There is a lot of stock out in the independent world that can be very good but as it's mostly released as single cask you have to pick carefully.
Thanks. I was planning on trying this new Talisker 10 when my older one bottle is over... Now I see that I should get something else instead. Maybe a Caol Ila 12... I haven't had that for a while now.
Usually I pour a dram of a good whisky while watching your videos but this time I´m travelling and I only packed a bottle of Bulleit Burbon. It shall do for this watch. One thing I´d like to mention, I dropped my glen cairn and it bounced against the hotelroom hardwood floor back up into the air so I could catch it still whole. I love glen cairns even more now. And yeah, I´m still not going to buy a bottle of Talisker 10, haha. Great video, keep it up! Sláinte!
Hi, Geoff! I haven't had the old Talisker 10 but only one bottle of the new one from 2021. I just checked my notes about it and here's what I've written: "Decent dram. A perfect example of "engineered" malt. The character is not ironed to be absolutely forgettable, but it is not too exciting either." For roughly 31 euros which I paid for my bottle the whisky is solid, but not nearly enough interesting for me. As for the new NAS expressions like Surge or Wilder Seas, frankly I don't care. They are way too expensive for what they are IMHO. I can have a bottle of Kilkerran 12, Loch Gorm, Port Charlotte 10 for less money than "Wilder Seas" or "Surge". Cheers!
I do agree with this review more than with the previous one. Talisker 10 is the only one I had apart from Dark Storm, and in comparison this loses a lot. It lacks body, complexity and overall, as you said, it's superficial. Still, keeping more hopes for Port Ruighe and Distillers Edition.
Just one sentence, no, two: The owner has an impact, and Talisker withstood this impact for quite a while. That has ended and it will make its way through all age classes now.
At the time of your previous review I had already tried the new version and didn’t like it, especially since I loved the old one, but I’ve always considered the possibility that it was all in my head. A few months ago I found a liquor store in a small town outside Portland, OR that still had a few bottles with the old label and, naturally, I bought one. It is delicious! And not only that, but I also had on my shelf a bottle of the latest Talisker Distillery Edition , and the old 10 was also better. I thought the DE had more sherry sweetness, but gave away this taste of cheapness and lack of complexity.
Talisker has always been experimental, choosing to age their spirit in used fishing barrels. I'm wondering if the casks are no longer fresh, and are now sourced from a hatchery.
I feel like I am having strong caramel flavour in the new version and I love the old bottle's presentation and the old version was a well balanced all-rounder.
huh.... 7 minutes in, you reel off a few NAS Taliskers and a thought popped up: 1. Diageo is a dealing with some kind of (self made?) pressure on their production line. 2. Their answer to this is to peel off the good barrels and bottle them as Limited Releases 3. The whisky from which those "good barrels" were peeled off degrades further/faster 4. All of that in the name of increasing profit. Annnnd. I think this looks like the Johnnie Walker Blue label playbook. I think it just crystallized for me how Diageo is going about trying to "premiumize" their portfolio. I always thought that the main strategy was to simply keeping increasing prices in response to ~market conditions~ greed. But no. they are targeting the people who DO spend money (enthusiasts) and hollowing out at least their baseline core line up in an effort to sell those barrels as higher priced offerings, all the while jacking up the price of anything that has a decent age statement. That... a that makes sense to me.
Thank you for the review. I saved a 200ml bottle a couple of years ago from the old label, because I wanted to compare it to the new label. I got the new label about a year ago. Without getting too far into my tasting, I did like that particular new label bottle. The new label was little less spirit driven, sweeter, more mouth coating, tad less smoke, and actually little more depth. I did enjoy that little more. But if you have an even newer botteling, and that's probably a bit worse, I think I'll let Talisker 10 be for now. Here in Sweden it has also gotten more expensive. It's $46 USD now, and there's quite a few I rather pick before T10. I rather go for Distillers Edition, Dark Storm or Port Ruighe instead, if I want some Talisker notes for a cheaper pricetag than Parley or Surge.
My issue with the current Talisker 10 is how the reduced complexity has brought the peppery notes too much to the forefront. For me Storm is the more balanced and enjoyable lower cost Talisker.
I fully agree with you. I also have one as a daily sipper and it's fine, but it was always a bottle to me that was much more than you'd expect. That's just not the case anymore. And the real problem with this is that it once again gives more merit to any "new bottle design = worse juice" theories once again.
Hi Geoff... thanks for bringing this one back. 🙏 Like many T10 was my introduction to peat, so I have a special affection for it.... I went thru 3 bottles so far and I thought it would be a permashelf for me, we'll see how it goes when I uncork the 4th, hopefully not the last... we'll see.. Cheers buddy 🥃
T10 costs ~USD50-73 in nz today. In 2021-10 it could be purchased for USD43. I haven't tried the new label and have no interest in doing so. T10 bottled in the early-2000s had character.
I think it’s still decent, it’s regularly on offer which helps it to be a re-buy, and I find, as with many whisky’s, it gets a lot better about 1/3 of the way down the bottle. Having said that it’s definitely not a stand out, it just kind of exists 😂 I just hope they don’t jack the price up. Cheers 🥃
Another classic episode of re-branding not being just about aesthetics. More and more we will see this happening and more and more we'll go for the new craft distilleries.
Great review Geoff! I have two complaints on Talisker 10…..it’s too sweet for me and it makes my tongue go numb like no other whisky does. I have switched to Old Pulteney Huddart, which has quite a few similarities to Talisker 10 but is less sweet and doesn’t numb my tongue.
Hello Geoff, My Name here came from a Talisker. The Distillers Edition Years ago was that good, that we spend a whole Evening/Night at the Balcony without having the urgence to get another Bottle to increase the intensity or to add another Layer of Flavour. We where totally happy with that Bottling we had, the Talisker Distillers Edition. From that Day on the Term „Balcony Whisky“ describes for us a Whisky that delivers enough of everything to be happy with it all Night long. Unfortunately decreased the Quality of their affordable Bottlings over Time and it didnt got that „Title“ again. 😅 Thanks for sharing your Thoughts and Opinion about this old Hero of Whiskyworld. Time for new Heroes i think😎 Btw. I'm enjoying right now a Release of Signatory Vintage from their 100Proof Series. A Secret Orkney 2010, 14YO, 57,1%Alc., from First Fill Oloroso Butts and Bourbon Hogsheads which was sold for 45€. Great Value. Greetings from Germany 😎 🤘
One thing I've noticed with my bottle of the rebrand is that the bacon/meaty note faded pretty quickly after opening the bottle. I miss the jammy, stewed fruits on the beach of the old talisker. I can still find the old bottles in stores here in the states every once in a while and always snag them when I do. I'm sad to see how much it's changed. I don't necessarily dislike the new one, but its not what it used to be and I love the old bottlings. Even have a bottle with the old old, rocks label. Will be sad to finish it when I do. The rebrand talisker 18 year old is good, but its expensive. For me, I'm enjoying my old bottles and looking to other distilleries in the future
Fully agree with you. It went downhill, unfortunately. I wouldn't even bother buying it for $30 honestly. Had a chance to try the old 'stone' release from Talisker, 2000s bottling - what an epic whisky was it back in the day!
Great idea to do a third review of this particular expression. Some expressions are changing beyond recognition these days and, as is the case with Talisker, so are the distilleries. Like you, I have a long history with Talisker 10 and for many years it was my go to whisky before I became a bankrupt whisky nerd. I can still remember what it tasted like 20 years ago too. It was far more intense with powerful black pepper notes. I nearly always have a bottle of Talisker 10 on the shelf but I don't at the moment. I completely agree with your estimation of the latest stuff. My last bottle really tasted really thin. Here's the thing: Talisker 10 has always been the benchmark Talisker expression by which all other Taliskers were judged. The 18 was a slightly better version and the NAS not so. Where is Talisker if the 10 drops off the radar? Besides, I'm getting increasingly irritated by that marmalade colouring they dump in it. And, another thing, Diageo have put up the price. It's over £50 a bottle on most shelves in the U.K. Talisker is churned out on a huge scale. It's primary purpose is to go into Johnnie Walker which outsells all the combined Talisker single malts by a universe. Ever since they introduced that NAS range I've been wondering if their struggling to maintain their cask quality.
I’ve been drinking whisky since I was 15. Now 62. I had a talisker 20+ years ago and didn’t like it, so it’s always been a pass for me. Then I was in Edinburgh 5 years ago or so (just before the pandemic started) and I was trying a bunch of whiskeys at several shops on the Golden Mile, and one of the shop keepers implored me to try a Hunter Lang Talisker single cask 8 yo he had for sale. He said he didn’t like Talisker generally (just like me) but this one was special. So I tried it, and he was spot on - it blew my mind. And it wasn’t cheap (£115 - I just pulled out the bottle and the receipt was in it), but I liked it so much that I bought it. I bought so many bottles that trip that my daughter had to bring them home over a 3 year period to avoid Canadian duty. It’s now in my cabinet and just begging to be opened. I’m guessing that’s still a few years off, but this review reminded me and has put it up a bit higher on my list….
Whenever I hear "Diageo" I expect the whisky not to live up to its potential. I will be highly disappointed if they ruin Balcones, but given their history, I have to expect it. The rot hasn't set in yet, but then, it hasn't been long since Diageo bought Balcones, and there is still a lot of pre-Diageo product in the stores. I wonder how often Talisker turns up in independent bottlings. I have recently found Signatory independent bottlings from a few Diageo distilleries. They are single barrel, cask strength, non-chill filtered, natural color, and excellent quality. If I see a Signatory Talisker, I'll grab it, but I'll most likely leave the official ones on the shelf.
Hunter/ Douglas Laing in their Old Malt Cask/ Provenance Series released a few independent Taliskers but with a significant Price Tag too. Always good Quality.
Hi Geoff. Picked up a bottle of the 10 earlier this year only because it was on offer for €26 otherwise it’s not worth buying and I don’t like the rebranding either. As you say it’s not bad but it’s not getting any better either. Slàinte Geoff 🥃
@@DileepBunfortunately you can't drink the price!! If whisky is not good and this one is Not good its mean you wasted/lost €26. Finally you definitely can say its good 🤷♂️🤫🥂🙋♂️
Maybe the third time isn't the charm after all?? Good re-review even though it was clearly a disappointing bottle. It's sad to see a past favourite steadily trending downwards in quality and value. I've always enjoyed Talisker 10 even if it stopped becoming a regular purchase once I discovered Ledaig 10. I did manage to pick up a bottle shortly after the rebranding to replace an earlier bottling that I had given away as birthday gift to one of my buddies. Hope I managed to get a hold of one of those transitional bottlings that you originally reviewed!🤞 Keep up the great work Geoff. All the best!
Yeah...Talisker 10 in It's current state is absolutely outclassed by other coastal whiskys like Ardnamurchan AD for example. I used the love it at the beginning of my whisky journey but oh well....so long Talisker 10. There are just too many great whiskys out there to settle for declining quality stuff. Thanks for the review Geoff! Have a great week! Slainte 🥃🥃
Along with Oban 14 the Talisker 10 was my entry into good scotch years ago! Recently bought a bottle for the first time in maybe 10 years. Great solid whisky but yes. Simple. Perhaps they are batchy like Bunnahabhain?
Thanks for trying this one so I don't have to. With the help of a time machine I'd easily go for a Talisker, say, 20 years ago, but these days I'll just conclude I was too late. It'd be wrong to bet on a dying horse, who is also chill filtered, when there are so many fine non Diageo distilleries to choose from.
Hi Geoff! Terrific thoughts. I completely agree. The 10 is not that cheap in B.C. - it’s about $110 before taxes - so I usually skip it and try and fine an older Talisker. I love the 18 but it’s getting very high in price. I can get other 10 year old single malts, better ones, for $110 so I generally give Talisker 10 a pass. I used to love it early on in why scotch journey! Awesome video! Cheers!
9:01 -- meanwhile, in California: $70-76. I used to walk by whiskey shelves with interest and excitement. Now I just point at price tags and laugh. The store clerks think I'm weird. They know nothing.
Same in the midwest. Used to be priced similar to Ardbeg and Laphroaig 10 but now Talisker 10 is $15 more. I've only had the old bottling of Talisker 10 and because of the price increase I will probably never buy one again. I can't even really hope for sales as that's hardly been a thing in my state.
I think that the affordability is a big plus, but in all honesty the Ardbeg Wee Beastie is a better alternative and I picked it up for a similar price. Accepted they are not directly comparable but you have to discriminate, you have to choose.
I'd love to see this put right next to Te Bheag and compared. Because here in my market, Te Bheag is 44$ and Talisker 10 is 109$... and there's maybe 10$ difference in taste for me. My bottle of Talisker Skye was substantially better.
Old Talisker 10 has more flavor. For someone who has never tasted Talisker, the present version is still worth a try. l have one unopened old Talisker 10 in my shelf. I think I will save it for a while :)
There are a few dusty stores in my area that still have the old 10 year bottles on the shelves. Did I gather correctly that I should be picking those up ASAP?
i tried it back in 2017, didn’t like it. found it too smoky for my taste but again in 2024 got another bottle decided to make whiskey sours out of it since its finished in american cask and is kinda ex bourbon and i was pleasantly surprised! non the less went and bought another bottle just for doing whiskey sours.
Been comparing to Talisker Skye over the last 5 months. Skye is more distillate driven, 10 much more rounded - but it feels rather ‘bland’, lacking any substance. Pale shadow of the 10 I grew up with. Skye is maybe more interesting. But I’d go elsewhere too.. UK prices are £40/$50 - so up with much more interesting whisky from Arran etc and more than AnCnoc 12.
I concur with everything you said, including your last review, as I was also drinking from a rebranded bottle at the time and it was quite alright. I will add though, the fake tan colour has got completely out of hand; maybe that's what the orange accents on the label are hinting at. It just looks like ginger ale now, you can't even choose to suspend your disbelief anymore because it's so blatant.
I haven't tried any Talisker yet. I was thinking of getting the 10 but it has recently shot up in price here. Given that the whisky isn't as good as it used to be, and is now more expensive, I will pass on this one. Cheers!
I had the same experience with Talisker. Bought my first one about 2 yrs ago and really liked it. Salty, smoky and bacony(!). Loved it. My second bottle though (2024 version) really disappointed me. The saltiness I so enjoyed was almost gone. Like you said, very superficial flavorwise. Not buying again until they start taking their customers seriously. FFS Diageo!
I used to separate the palate and finish segments and I used that move to visually distinguish when I was focusing on the finish. I've since combined palate and finish but kept the move for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I think I just like how pretentious it looks. 😉🥃
Well... I followed the vibe. Talisker went bad, Ardbeg went bad... So I went Connemara. It is not as good as the peat classics of the old... But it is cheaper.
My first and last Connemara was awful. Many whiskies I've had and not enjoyed as much as I wanted but I'd never buy another Connemara! Obviously personal choice 🙂
The 10-year is, without a doubt, quite worse. But in my opinion, the one that has deteriorated the most, by far, is the Distillers Edition. The 2009 and 2010 editions were among the first whiskies that fascinated me and seemed absurdly delicious at the same time; I emptied several bottles of each. However, the last bottle I bought, new label and NAS, was a complete disappointment. It no longer resembles the old 10-year, but rather the mediocre NAS bottlings, especially the Dark Storm, the worst of all in my opinion. Much less complex and balanced, younger in the bad sense, with strange and even slightly unpleasant notes... A lot of toasted barrel, little sherry, simply very careless. I went from loving it to barely tolerating it. Simply incredible. This year's special release is a mess too, decent at best. If the Parley one disappoints me, honestly, I'll write Talisker off completely. I have better bottles to invest my time and money in. If they want to self-destruct, that's their problem.
Love your channel but gotta say, sometimes sounds like you're too generous with the scores. you should try adjusting your scale like Ralphy did. Anything over 85 should be excellent IMHO. Or don't do it, works just as well lol.
The new dogma is that now we pay the same for mediocre expressions, when 10 years ago you could get great quality aged whisky for what you pay now for a NAS whisky.
I have found over the years that when a company changes the label of its product, the product changes as well. When I saw the new label, my heart sank. I knew deep down that the whisky had changed. What I had enjoyed for well over twenty years was different. This was confirmed when I took off the cap and got a sniff. I was not welcomed with the pleasant bouquet of the past. What I had fondly referred to as 'The kiss of the sea' was just not there. When I dared to taste it, it was harsh. This is what happens when a company forsakes tradition and listens too closely to their marketing department and their CPAs. Sad, but I will have to move on.
I've heard this from others as well. Certainly, the fate of the universe does not revolve around Scotch but the 10 was a very pleasant accompaniment to life. At least I still can turn to another great one, Lagavullin 16, which I have enjoyed for a long time; before Parks And Recreation, that is. This is about as far as I will go with Synesthesia but the 16 always reminded me of old libraries and leather bound books.
Diageo just need to stop all this heavy-handed marketing and lack of more detailed information on their whisky’s. I think it’s all ridiculous, like they don’t respect if they’re marketing to children or adults. And if they’re paying consultant firms for the the information that they’re using to run that entire corporation, then everyone from that firm to the CEO on down to the distillers need to be fired, and start over. They could have so much better brand loyalty and customer retention if they stop all this nonsense.
Just bought the old one, will open it in my upcoming vacation. I agree new one isn't at the same level - depth wise.
Rebranded bottle label doesn't lie...half the label...half the whiskey 😀
You 100% right but i think you're too optymistic 😎🥂 p.s. serious question: what is wrong with Talisker? I was shopping Tesko yesterday and Skye been priced £48 at standard not discounted price but 10yo was for £30 on sale and that situation is almost all the time. 🤷♂️😁🥂🙋♂️
@@peatbull3426 In IT Development there is a thing called a 'Minimally Viable Product ' and now we see it in the Whisky Business. Give me the minimal thing we can call Talisker 10 😀
I said the same things about Lagavulin 16 4 or 5 years ago after a couple of flat batches... but I went back to a 2023 batch last summer (found an amazing price) and wouldn't you know it, it's a total banger. I wonder how often we misidentify a lackluster batch - which happens, and will always happen - with a broader sea change in a bottling.
I was drinking this pretty much daily while travelling recently. I started mixing it 2-1 with Drambuie over one big ice-cube and it made a tasty Rusty Nail.
Shouldn't be drinking anything daily mate, dial it back
Still buy it. Still drink it. Don't care much about labels and colors. Might be a little batchy at times. Like the salt and pepper, the dirty whisky style, not too sweet, no sherry, moderate peat. Still a regular on my shelf.
At that price I would pick it up, but near me it goes for $65-$70, whereas the Distiller's Edition is $80.
Although I prefer the old bottling but the new Talisker quite good in value given the price of single malt today. If you leave a dram in a air conditioned room, it does turn a little cloudy. There is still some life left in the new Talisker 10.
when Ralfy added some water and left it for a few hours it did turn cloudy.
Talisker 57° North is the last bottle I finished from this distillery and I enjoyed it very much. I haven’t had the 10 YO in decades.
57 North is my favorite too, ahead of the 18 yo. But its not longer in production, instead we got the dumb downed special releases from Diageo 😭😭
Luckily I still have one opened and one unopened which I will be keeping for nostalgia when the world ends 😂
@@coppullcaveman ah no think positive and drink it on a happy occasion 😁
Certain whiskies should be re-reviewed. There are essential bottles that most are going to try or buy at some point and Talisker 10 is certainly one of them. I bought a bottle of the new label and I completely agree that it's 'meh'. All these Diageo Classic Malts of Scotland are between $70-$80 these days and are hard to justify with the exception of the Lagavulin 16 which is closer to $100 but also much better than the others.
Agree. Laga 16, while more expensive, is easily the most interesting of the bunch. Cheers! 🥃
Great re-review Geoff. I picked up an older release of Tali10 when I was in banff a couple of years ago and it was good. It lasted me over a year and stayed just as good as first opened. I did not crave for getting a replacement though. It sounds like and judging by what's going on with the re-branding, re-labelling, re-releasing, all of that is doing more harm than good to some of these distilleries and that is truly sad!
Hi it's me, your viewer Koby. You have a nice price tag for it. The cheapest talisker 10 here costs 48€. 18 is 230€. I only had the new talisker 10, but it was a fun bottle, maybe I don't have the reference point of the old one. Thanks for the video 📸
€48 is pricey! Not as bad as some other markets, but I'm definitely lucky to live where I live with regards to pricing. The 18, sadly, is now expensive pretty much everywhere. It's about €200 here as well. I used to buy it for €130. Cheers buddy! 🥃
I had been saving some older bottles from 2018 as a benchmark so when the new branding came out, I got one to try side-by-side. I liked the new one better back then so I got a couple more. I have not made a more recent purchase though.
Yeah my first bottle from the new branding was decent. 🥃
"Diageo" is Scots Gaelic for "we don't give a hoot about the quality of our single malts."
Yes, but its Only half of rwal meaning. Other half is: and we try to get as much profits as we can. Amen 🤭🥂🙋♂️
I liked the last bottle I had few months back . However need to have the bottles side by side to compare.
I bought this a few months ago. I loved the coastal aspects of it, but to me it lacks sweetness to a degree that hurts it bad. Feels a bit hollow because of that. Still eagerly awaiting your review for the Talisker special 11 years, which, since it is more heavily bourbon influenced, I hope will have more body and be sweeter. Haven't received super reviews though
A couple of days ago I bought a bottle of 16th year bottling at some hidden store for $50! Great luck! And let him stand in the very far corner of my bar, waiting for his finest hour!
Recently bought a bottle of the current Highland Park 12 after exhausting the supply of pre Viking Hype bottles from my local dusty bottle shop. It smells and tastes absolutely nothing like the older bottles. I realize that the HP rebranding happened quite a few years before Talisker. Luckily, the shop had old 12's, 15's, 18's & Dark Origins bottles sitting neglected, and I bought and drank all of them over the last five years. Love what Highland Park was, but I think they were top dressing the older vatings with older casks and that practice is over. Cheers
Apparently HP is rebranding again this year and doing away with the viking stuff. I wonder if the formulas will change again... 🥃
@@Gwhisky I think the liquid in the bottle is a victim of their success. The volume of old stock they had to make the core range bottles great is gone or was diverted to the ridiculous amount of nas special releases they have been putting out during the Viking Hype period has made it all pretty bland compared to the older bottles. There is a lot of stock out in the independent world that can be very good but as it's mostly released as single cask you have to pick carefully.
Thanks. I was planning on trying this new Talisker 10 when my older one bottle is over...
Now I see that I should get something else instead.
Maybe a Caol Ila 12... I haven't had that for a while now.
I think the new bottle looks fantastic. 4/5 for me. I’d give the old design 3/5.
Usually I pour a dram of a good whisky while watching your videos but this time I´m travelling and I only packed a bottle of Bulleit Burbon. It shall do for this watch. One thing I´d like to mention, I dropped my glen cairn and it bounced against the hotelroom hardwood floor back up into the air so I could catch it still whole. I love glen cairns even more now. And yeah, I´m still not going to buy a bottle of Talisker 10, haha. Great video, keep it up! Sláinte!
Hi, Geoff! I haven't had the old Talisker 10 but only one bottle of the new one from 2021. I just checked my notes about it and here's what I've written: "Decent dram. A perfect example of "engineered" malt. The character is not ironed to be absolutely forgettable, but it is not too exciting either." For roughly 31 euros which I paid for my bottle the whisky is solid, but not nearly enough interesting for me.
As for the new NAS expressions like Surge or Wilder Seas, frankly I don't care. They are way too expensive for what they are IMHO. I can have a bottle of Kilkerran 12, Loch Gorm, Port Charlotte 10 for less money than "Wilder Seas" or "Surge".
Cheers!
I do agree with this review more than with the previous one. Talisker 10 is the only one I had apart from Dark Storm, and in comparison this loses a lot. It lacks body, complexity and overall, as you said, it's superficial. Still, keeping more hopes for Port Ruighe and Distillers Edition.
Just one sentence, no, two: The owner has an impact, and Talisker withstood this impact for quite a while. That has ended and it will make its way through all age classes now.
At the time of your previous review I had already tried the new version and didn’t like it, especially since I loved the old one, but I’ve always considered the possibility that it was all in my head. A few months ago I found a liquor store in a small town outside Portland, OR that still had a few bottles with the old label and, naturally, I bought one. It is delicious! And not only that, but I also had on my shelf a bottle of the latest Talisker Distillery Edition , and the old 10 was also better. I thought the DE had more sherry sweetness, but gave away this taste of cheapness and lack of complexity.
Talisker has always been experimental, choosing to age their spirit in used fishing barrels. I'm wondering if the casks are no longer fresh, and are now sourced from a hatchery.
I feel like I am having strong caramel flavour in the new version and I love the old bottle's presentation and the old version was a well balanced all-rounder.
Only $30 in your market??? Holy crap! That's a $70 bottle in the Chicagoland area.
Ouch! 😬
huh....
7 minutes in, you reel off a few NAS Taliskers and a thought popped up:
1. Diageo is a dealing with some kind of (self made?) pressure on their production line.
2. Their answer to this is to peel off the good barrels and bottle them as Limited Releases
3. The whisky from which those "good barrels" were peeled off degrades further/faster
4. All of that in the name of increasing profit.
Annnnd. I think this looks like the Johnnie Walker Blue label playbook. I think it just crystallized for me how Diageo is going about trying to "premiumize" their portfolio. I always thought that the main strategy was to simply keeping increasing prices in response to ~market conditions~ greed. But no. they are targeting the people who DO spend money (enthusiasts) and hollowing out at least their baseline core line up in an effort to sell those barrels as higher priced offerings, all the while jacking up the price of anything that has a decent age statement.
That... a that makes sense to me.
Thank you for the review.
I saved a 200ml bottle a couple of years ago from the old label, because I wanted to compare it to the new label. I got the new label about a year ago. Without getting too far into my tasting, I did like that particular new label bottle. The new label was little less spirit driven, sweeter, more mouth coating, tad less smoke, and actually little more depth. I did enjoy that little more.
But if you have an even newer botteling, and that's probably a bit worse, I think I'll let Talisker 10 be for now. Here in Sweden it has also gotten more expensive. It's $46 USD now, and there's quite a few I rather pick before T10. I rather go for Distillers Edition, Dark Storm or Port Ruighe instead, if I want some Talisker notes for a cheaper pricetag than Parley or Surge.
My issue with the current Talisker 10 is how the reduced complexity has brought the peppery notes too much to the forefront. For me Storm is the more balanced and enjoyable lower cost Talisker.
I fully agree with you. I also have one as a daily sipper and it's fine, but it was always a bottle to me that was much more than you'd expect. That's just not the case anymore. And the real problem with this is that it once again gives more merit to any "new bottle design = worse juice" theories once again.
Honestly for the same price you can get a Scarabus that's just objectively superior in every possible way.
Hi Geoff... thanks for bringing this one back. 🙏
Like many T10 was my introduction to peat, so I have a special affection for it.... I went thru 3 bottles so far and I thought it would be a permashelf for me, we'll see how it goes when I uncork the 4th, hopefully not the last... we'll see.. Cheers buddy 🥃
Tali 10 is not bad whisky , but for my Laphro 10 much better ) Cheers !
T10 costs ~USD50-73 in nz today. In 2021-10 it could be purchased for USD43. I haven't tried the new label and have no interest in doing so. T10 bottled in the early-2000s had character.
I think it’s still decent, it’s regularly on offer which helps it to be a re-buy, and I find, as with many whisky’s, it gets a lot better about 1/3 of the way down the bottle. Having said that it’s definitely not a stand out, it just kind of exists 😂 I just hope they don’t jack the price up. Cheers 🥃
I’m really enjoying my Talksker 10, I think it’s great.
Great! That's all that matters! 🥃
Suggestions for review - Glen Garioch Virgin Oak (if you can find it or have it)
Another classic episode of re-branding not being just about aesthetics. More and more we will see this happening and more and more we'll go for the new craft distilleries.
Well said! 👏
I never had the old one but I really enjoy this bottle. So perhaps it's for the best.
Great review Geoff!
I have two complaints on Talisker 10…..it’s too sweet for me and it makes my tongue go numb like no other whisky does.
I have switched to Old Pulteney Huddart, which has quite a few similarities to Talisker 10 but is less sweet and doesn’t numb my tongue.
Hello Geoff,
My Name here came from a Talisker. The Distillers Edition Years ago was that good, that we spend a whole Evening/Night at the Balcony without having the urgence to get another Bottle to increase the intensity or to add another Layer of Flavour. We where totally happy with that Bottling we had, the Talisker Distillers Edition. From that Day on the Term „Balcony Whisky“ describes for us a Whisky that delivers enough of everything to be happy with it all Night long.
Unfortunately decreased the Quality of their affordable Bottlings over Time and it didnt got that „Title“ again.
😅
Thanks for sharing your Thoughts and Opinion about this old Hero of Whiskyworld.
Time for new Heroes i think😎
Btw. I'm enjoying right now a Release of Signatory Vintage from their 100Proof Series. A Secret Orkney 2010,
14YO, 57,1%Alc., from First Fill Oloroso Butts and Bourbon Hogsheads which was sold for 45€.
Great Value.
Greetings from Germany 😎 🤘
One thing I've noticed with my bottle of the rebrand is that the bacon/meaty note faded pretty quickly after opening the bottle. I miss the jammy, stewed fruits on the beach of the old talisker. I can still find the old bottles in stores here in the states every once in a while and always snag them when I do. I'm sad to see how much it's changed. I don't necessarily dislike the new one, but its not what it used to be and I love the old bottlings. Even have a bottle with the old old, rocks label. Will be sad to finish it when I do. The rebrand talisker 18 year old is good, but its expensive. For me, I'm enjoying my old bottles and looking to other distilleries in the future
Fully agree with you. It went downhill, unfortunately. I wouldn't even bother buying it for $30 honestly. Had a chance to try the old 'stone' release from Talisker, 2000s bottling - what an epic whisky was it back in the day!
Great idea to do a third review of this particular expression. Some expressions are changing beyond recognition these days and, as is the case with Talisker, so are the distilleries. Like you, I have a long history with Talisker 10 and for many years it was my go to whisky before I became a bankrupt whisky nerd. I can still remember what it tasted like 20 years ago too. It was far more intense with powerful black pepper notes.
I nearly always have a bottle of Talisker 10 on the shelf but I don't at the moment. I completely agree with your estimation of the latest stuff. My last bottle really tasted really thin. Here's the thing: Talisker 10 has always been the benchmark Talisker expression by which all other Taliskers were judged. The 18 was a slightly better version and the NAS not so. Where is Talisker if the 10 drops off the radar? Besides, I'm getting increasingly irritated by that marmalade colouring they dump in it. And, another thing, Diageo have put up the price. It's over £50 a bottle on most shelves in the U.K.
Talisker is churned out on a huge scale. It's primary purpose is to go into Johnnie Walker which outsells all the combined Talisker single malts by a universe. Ever since they introduced that NAS range I've been wondering if their struggling to maintain their cask quality.
I have been sitting on a bottle of the 10 from right after the rebrand, so I hope that it is one that still has the meaty notes.
Now I have to run out and bye the new version just to see if you all are right ?
Luckily it,s one sale here right now...
I Wonder why 😉
Nice review. It’s like $70 here in MA :(
I’ve been drinking whisky since I was 15. Now 62. I had a talisker 20+ years ago and didn’t like it, so it’s always been a pass for me. Then I was in Edinburgh 5 years ago or so (just before the pandemic started) and I was trying a bunch of whiskeys at several shops on the Golden Mile, and one of the shop keepers implored me to try a Hunter Lang Talisker single cask 8 yo he had for sale. He said he didn’t like Talisker generally (just like me) but this one was special. So I tried it, and he was spot on - it blew my mind. And it wasn’t cheap (£115 - I just pulled out the bottle and the receipt was in it), but I liked it so much that I bought it. I bought so many bottles that trip that my daughter had to bring them home over a 3 year period to avoid Canadian duty. It’s now in my cabinet and just begging to be opened. I’m guessing that’s still a few years off, but this review reminded me and has put it up a bit higher on my list….
tell your doctor to check your liver
Whenever I hear "Diageo" I expect the whisky not to live up to its potential. I will be highly disappointed if they ruin Balcones, but given their history, I have to expect it. The rot hasn't set in yet, but then, it hasn't been long since Diageo bought Balcones, and there is still a lot of pre-Diageo product in the stores.
I wonder how often Talisker turns up in independent bottlings. I have recently found Signatory independent bottlings from a few Diageo distilleries. They are single barrel, cask strength, non-chill filtered, natural color, and excellent quality. If I see a Signatory Talisker, I'll grab it, but I'll most likely leave the official ones on the shelf.
Hunter/ Douglas Laing in their Old Malt Cask/ Provenance Series released a few independent Taliskers but with a significant Price Tag too. Always good Quality.
$30usd that's a steal! It's at least twice that in the States.
Yeah I'm very lucky here! 🥃
In Oz it costs now AUD130 now… up from about $95.
@@iliastsiphlidis4607 😮
@@Gwhisky I need to visit TW. lol
Hi Geoff. Picked up a bottle of the 10 earlier this year only because it was on offer for €26 otherwise it’s not worth buying and I don’t like the rebranding either. As you say it’s not bad but it’s not getting any better either. Slàinte Geoff 🥃
that is agreat price
@@DileepBunfortunately you can't drink the price!! If whisky is not good and this one is Not good its mean you wasted/lost €26. Finally you definitely can say its good 🤷♂️🤫🥂🙋♂️
@@peatbull3426 it is a good whisky and the price is great!
Maybe the third time isn't the charm after all?? Good re-review even though it was clearly a disappointing bottle. It's sad to see a past favourite steadily trending downwards in quality and value. I've always enjoyed Talisker 10 even if it stopped becoming a regular purchase once I discovered Ledaig 10.
I did manage to pick up a bottle shortly after the rebranding to replace an earlier bottling that I had given away as birthday gift to one of my buddies. Hope I managed to get a hold of one of those transitional bottlings that you originally reviewed!🤞
Keep up the great work Geoff. All the best!
Yeah...Talisker 10 in It's current state is absolutely outclassed by other coastal whiskys like Ardnamurchan AD for example. I used the love it at the beginning of my whisky journey but oh well....so long Talisker 10.
There are just too many great whiskys out there to settle for declining quality stuff. Thanks for the review Geoff! Have a great week!
Slainte 🥃🥃
Along with Oban 14 the Talisker 10 was my entry into good scotch years ago! Recently bought a bottle for the first time in maybe 10 years. Great solid whisky but yes. Simple.
Perhaps they are batchy like Bunnahabhain?
Wow, never thought of Talisker as affordable. It's $120 here in North Carolina.
Ouch! Absolutely not worth that!!! 😬
Bought parley in turkey. Can’t wait to try it when I get back to states.
Talisker was my favourite whisky and will be again, when Diageo sells it to someone who cares. For now, moved to the neighbours at Torabhaig.
Completly agreed. I ll never buy talisker anymore. The color is ridiculous
Thanks for trying this one so I don't have to. With the help of a time machine I'd easily go for a Talisker, say, 20 years ago, but these days I'll just conclude I was too late. It'd be wrong to bet on a dying horse, who is also chill filtered, when there are so many fine non Diageo distilleries to choose from.
Hi Geoff! Terrific thoughts. I completely agree. The 10 is not that cheap in B.C. - it’s about $110 before taxes - so I usually skip it and try and fine an older Talisker. I love the 18 but it’s getting very high in price. I can get other 10 year old single malts, better ones, for $110 so I generally give Talisker 10 a pass. I used to love it early on in why scotch journey! Awesome video! Cheers!
9:01 -- meanwhile, in California: $70-76. I used to walk by whiskey shelves with interest and excitement. Now I just point at price tags and laugh. The store clerks think I'm weird. They know nothing.
Same in the midwest. Used to be priced similar to Ardbeg and Laphroaig 10 but now Talisker 10 is $15 more. I've only had the old bottling of Talisker 10 and because of the price increase I will probably never buy one again. I can't even really hope for sales as that's hardly been a thing in my state.
Have you gotten to try the other Skye distillery? Torabhaig? New king of Skye???
Only had one expression from them, as they aren't available in my market yet. Loved it! 🥃
@@Gwhisky I think you gotta post a review on that one next 👀
That said... It still goes for £34-35 regularly - Autumn 2023 to Summer 2024 - several times !
I think that the affordability is a big plus, but in all honesty the Ardbeg Wee Beastie is a better alternative and I picked it up for a similar price. Accepted they are not directly comparable but you have to discriminate, you have to choose.
I'd love to see this put right next to Te Bheag and compared. Because here in my market, Te Bheag is 44$ and Talisker 10 is 109$... and there's maybe 10$ difference in taste for me. My bottle of Talisker Skye was substantially better.
Old Talisker 10 has more flavor. For someone who has never tasted Talisker, the present version is still worth a try. l have one unopened old Talisker 10 in my shelf. I think I will save it for a while :)
There are a few dusty stores in my area that still have the old 10 year bottles on the shelves. Did I gather correctly that I should be picking those up ASAP?
Sounds like a pretty good idea to me! 🥃
$89 by me. Appreciate the re re review as the quality has gone down and way too expensive. Milking an older bottling and moving on.
30 bucks! In my market those bottles are going for 70-80 dollars
We get in Sweden for 50$ Is it worth it?
@@b.benjamineriksson6030 I think so.
Do you reckon that the old bottling is worth a little more today? I have one unopened bottle in my cabinet!
I doubt it'll go up by much as it's an entry level whisky. I'd pop it. 😉🥃
i tried it back in 2017, didn’t like it. found it too smoky for my taste but again in 2024 got another bottle decided to make whiskey sours out of it since its finished in american cask and is kinda ex bourbon and i was pleasantly surprised! non the less went and bought another bottle just for doing whiskey sours.
Is it safe to say that any distillery diageo takes over,d whisky of that distillery suffers in quality?
Yes, because they doesnt care of product they sell; whisky, chopped wood...they care only about profits
🤷♂️🥂🙋♂️
at 110 $ CAD (~80 USD) in 2023-24,i have not bought Tali10 since 2004 (20y)- I still have a few bots from 1994, different DNA sadly.
And how much did a bottle of Tally 10 cost back in '94??? 🤔
@@Gwhisky 45 $CA (with old sepia-tone map) back then, and the Tali-1981 (20y) 59.7% on sale for 125$CA some years/times later ! !
Been comparing to Talisker Skye over the last 5 months. Skye is more distillate driven, 10 much more rounded - but it feels rather ‘bland’, lacking any substance. Pale shadow of the 10 I grew up with.
Skye is maybe more interesting. But I’d go elsewhere too.. UK prices are £40/$50 - so up with much more interesting whisky from Arran etc and more than AnCnoc 12.
I concur with everything you said, including your last review, as I was also drinking from a rebranded bottle at the time and it was quite alright. I will add though, the fake tan colour has got completely out of hand; maybe that's what the orange accents on the label are hinting at. It just looks like ginger ale now, you can't even choose to suspend your disbelief anymore because it's so blatant.
82 lol, how the mighty had fallen :(
I haven't tried any Talisker yet. I was thinking of getting the 10 but it has recently shot up in price here. Given that the whisky isn't as good as it used to be, and is now more expensive, I will pass on this one. Cheers!
Sad to see the decline in Talisker 😔
Very sad indeed. Cheers buddy! 🥃
Not a bargain in my book. It’s $74 in Michigan.
Used to keep T10 stocked along with Ardbeg 10 and Laphroaig 10 but now that I've finished my old T10 bottle I'm replacing it with Machir Bay instead.
I had the same experience with Talisker. Bought my first one about 2 yrs ago and really liked it. Salty, smoky and bacony(!). Loved it.
My second bottle though (2024 version) really disappointed me. The saltiness I so enjoyed was almost gone. Like you said, very superficial flavorwise.
Not buying again until they start taking their customers seriously.
FFS Diageo!
I find the the '10' rather bland & uninteresting, but I like their signature in the Parley, Purge & even the Storm.
What's that thing you do with your hand when you drink?
I used to separate the palate and finish segments and I used that move to visually distinguish when I was focusing on the finish. I've since combined palate and finish but kept the move for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I think I just like how pretentious it looks. 😉🥃
Well... I followed the vibe. Talisker went bad, Ardbeg went bad... So I went Connemara. It is not as good as the peat classics of the old... But it is cheaper.
My first and last Connemara was awful. Many whiskies I've had and not enjoyed as much as I wanted but I'd never buy another Connemara! Obviously personal choice 🙂
The 10-year is, without a doubt, quite worse. But in my opinion, the one that has deteriorated the most, by far, is the Distillers Edition. The 2009 and 2010 editions were among the first whiskies that fascinated me and seemed absurdly delicious at the same time; I emptied several bottles of each. However, the last bottle I bought, new label and NAS, was a complete disappointment. It no longer resembles the old 10-year, but rather the mediocre NAS bottlings, especially the Dark Storm, the worst of all in my opinion. Much less complex and balanced, younger in the bad sense, with strange and even slightly unpleasant notes... A lot of toasted barrel, little sherry, simply very careless. I went from loving it to barely tolerating it. Simply incredible. This year's special release is a mess too, decent at best. If the Parley one disappoints me, honestly, I'll write Talisker off completely. I have better bottles to invest my time and money in. If they want to self-destruct, that's their problem.
Yep quality down and the price gone up .
A real shame. Like you Geoff, Talisker used to be one of my favourite island whisky’s. Sadly, I guess it’s sometimes best not to meet your hero’s…😕
The DE is quite good for the price.
Totally agree
Love your channel but gotta say, sometimes sounds like you're too generous with the scores. you should try adjusting your scale like Ralphy did. Anything over 85 should be excellent IMHO. Or don't do it, works just as well lol.
The new dogma is that now we pay the same for mediocre expressions, when 10 years ago you could get great quality aged whisky for what you pay now for a NAS whisky.
That seems to be the case, yeah. 😭
When can we expect a video bashing Talisker 18 ?
I loved the old 18. Not sure I'll ever shell out for the much more expensive new 18...
I have found over the years that
when a company changes the
label of its product, the product
changes as well. When I saw
the new label, my heart sank.
I knew deep down that the whisky
had changed. What I had enjoyed
for well over twenty years was
different. This was confirmed
when I took off the cap and got
a sniff. I was not welcomed with
the pleasant bouquet of the past.
What I had fondly referred to as
'The kiss of the sea' was just not
there. When I dared to taste it,
it was harsh. This is what happens
when a company forsakes tradition and listens too closely to
their marketing department and
their CPAs. Sad, but I will have
to move on.
Yeah it's sad. This whisky was always part of my roster when I was just getting into whisky. Not anymore. 🫤
I've heard this from others as well.
Certainly, the fate of the universe
does not revolve around Scotch
but the 10 was a very pleasant
accompaniment to life. At least
I still can turn to another great one, Lagavullin 16, which I have
enjoyed for a long time; before
Parks And Recreation, that is.
This is about as far as I will go
with Synesthesia but the 16
always reminded me of old
libraries and leather bound books.
$70 most places
105 CAD in montreal 😅
Classic SAQ. 🥃
104$ @ SAQ (QC, Canada) 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
😒
New glass?
Hah yeah kind of. I've been around for a couple months now. Cheers Mike! 🥃
@Gwhisky Cheers Jeoff! I couldn't not notice it, because it reminds me of my Stölzle glass o recently bought and fell in love with.
talisker tastes different every time i have it, even from the same bottle
Here in Central Texas I'm seeing it for 70-80 bucks. Hard pass. I still have a bottle but I'm drinking it sparingly until prices get back to normalcy.
$70+ Tax in Texas, USA
Diageo just need to stop all this heavy-handed marketing and lack of more detailed information on their whisky’s. I think it’s all ridiculous, like they don’t respect if they’re marketing to children or adults. And if they’re paying consultant firms for the the information that they’re using to run that entire corporation, then everyone from that firm to the CEO on down to the distillers need to be fired, and start over. They could have so much better brand loyalty and customer retention if they stop all this nonsense.
The 10 is $69 or more where I live, it is just not worth that much money.