Pretty much agree. For me this one was boring, but nothing was off putting. If I just want some whisky while chatting with friends this is fine and the price point is right.
I'm about done with a bottle of Jura 10, and I'm drinking some this evening, so I went onto RUclips to see what people think of it. In the United States, it can be found for around $40, which is quite a bargain for a single malt with an age statement. I love the nose on this whisky. It has just about everything that can be found in Scotch whisky, all rolled into one. I find a little peat, a hint of brine, some fruit from the sherry barrel, and a hint of malt. Unfortunately, the 40% ABV does it no favors when it reaches the palate. It is fuller bodied than I would expect, but it is still watered down. However, this whisky has character, and I think it would do very well if better presented. If a cask strength version of the 10-year without chill filtration and coloring ever shows up, I would love to try it. I think it would be an excellent expression of the character of this whisky. This 40% version might be a good choice for beginners, and I find it to be a good warm-up when I plan to taste some more potent booze afterwards, but it isn't something that I would actively seek out. I hope they release a better version at some point, or if this doesn't happen, I would be overjoyed if I ever find an independent bottling of Jura. I just bought a bottle of another 10-year-old whisky which will replace this Jura 10 in my collection after I have finished it. It is a single barrel pick of Eagle Rare 10-year bourbon that I bought at a local bar. I tasted it there and liked it a lot, so I was happy when they told me that they were selling bottles to go. When I have my final pour of Jura 10, I will open the Eagle Rare and have my first pour from that bottle. It will be an interesting comparison. Eagle Rare is 45%, which is still on the low side, but that extra 5% makes a big difference. It is natural color too, as is required by law.
Agree with all your points. Jura 10 has a little bit of everything and shows lots of promise. IMHO it's far superior to the old NAS Origin and Superstition. I really wish we could have a high strength, unfiltered version. Will we get one? Unlikely... but we can hope Eagle Rare is an excellent bourbon. One of my favourites. Wise pick 👍
I had quite similar thoughts. Tried it for the first time today and it struck me as having very distinctly Springbank 10 notes once it settled down in the glass for a few minutes, but without that Springbank intensity or brilliance, and also reminded me slightly of Highland Park 12. I really like my first few pours of Jura 10 but like you, wish they bottled it at 43-46% instead of 40%. They should release it natural color and non chill filtered at 46% to give Springbank 10 some real competition. For the $40 they are getting for this it should have that spec.
I'm glad someone else thinks this has potential to be a Springbank 10 alternative. Means I haven't totally lost the plot 😉 I feel like it could be so much better with minimal effort. As it is, it's still good. But just good. Regarding the price, here in the UK it's almost always on heavy discount in at least one of the supermarkets. Full price is just under £40 but almost nobody pays that. They wait until it goes on offer for £22 and then the shelves empty 😂 So £22 is effectively the 'true' price. Which is possibly part of whats holding them back and preventing them from making those much needed changes. They need to believe that their product can occupy the same price bracket as Springbank 10 (once they improve the presentation). Or at least Talisker 10! Fingers crossed but let's not hold our breath...
@@WhiskyLock You most certainly haven't "lost the plot"! To prove it, I hadn't watched any review of this until after I opened my first bottle of it yesterday and had my surprise that it had intimations of Springbank 10 to enough of a degree, that I had to do a direct side by side comparison between the two! So afterwards when I saw your video and you mentioned Springbank 10 I was sure we were picking up on the same potential independently. To be fair, i'm still for the most part in the neck pour stage of this bottle and have learned I can get a bit overenthusiastic with a bottle in the neck pour stage, but what a surprisingly good neck pour it was. At this abv it takes more time to pull out all the aromas and flavors though. I think I like this a bit better than you but that is in no way intended to be a signal to Jura to leave this alone. We want a better craft presentation but leave the flavor profile alone! I also agree with you that this in its current state is already better than Highland Park 12 which I'm not a fan of. I've never seen this on the shelf for less than $40 here in the states. Springbank 10 is for the most part unobtainium here. Prices here are all over the place and start well over $100 so its as if its in its own grey market. So my single bottle of SB10 is likely going to be my last. Whisky prices here in the states are totally out of control. I want to share why it has taken over 10 years for me to finally pick this one up and hopefully Jura is reading this. I've seen it for a while and wondered about it but, there were so many other options that were either priced lower for similar specs or the same price with better specs. So after buying dozens of other bottles I'm finally running out of options at this price point which led me here out of curiosity. That shouldn't be the strategy for Jura! So if Jura wants to sell more of this they should either lower the price by 15% or they should improve the spec by 15% and I vote improve the spec. So a $40 Jura 10 with 46% abv and no chill filtration or color added would likely increase their sales dramatically and could end up being the poor man's Springbank 10. Not a bad strategy if you ask me!
Jura is a horrible experience. I was at a Whyte Mackay event a few years ago and jura was less sampled than Whyte Mackay Light!! It's just a bland harsh spirit you would throw in a coke unfortunately. I will say the supermarket trap really does work in their favour, as I had multiple people buy me bottles of jura for my birthday under the assumption it was a premium product. Little did they know it is one of the whiskies I like least.
It is funny how non whisky fanatics see something like Jura in the supermarket and think 'ooh fancy!'. Even though for most of the year the price is lower than some basic blends and the quality is often not there. They can do better, and occasionally do, but the damage that they've already done to their reputation is going to make turning things around difficult...
Hello from Ukraine! Thanks for the review i think it's good and enough balance whisky for 25 pound, i was buy two bottles and when I see good price i probably buy it again
Hello! Yes I think for £25 it's pretty good. And the low price means you don't have to worry about drinking / sharing it too quickly 🙂 stay safe my friend 🥃
I don't really get the hate for Jura. I've only had the 10 you have here and some bottles many moons ago. But for a 'cheap' age statement whiskey you get a lot of hit. For context my taste in whiskey is either light malty and fruity Speyside offerings or Laphroaig/Talisker... I'm not a huge middle ground guy. But I get tannins and a black tea note that I've not had before along with a rich peppery hit. Intense and pleasant with a real depth. All taste is subjective and what I enjoy could be disgusting to other people. But Jura does seem to be shat upon by snobs rather than nerds. Yes it's a coloured chill filtered 10 year at 40%. But I really don't see those things an instant negatives... apart from colour, I wish that would go away. I don't need scotch to look like Bourbon.
Hi Luke. I think Jura deserves a bit of flack for their presentation (and some of their older cheap expressions) but not to be totally written off as many people do. They're doing better lately than some of the other cheap, mass produced distilleries. And it at least has a bit of character. Fingers crossed they can reach their full potential some time soon though!
Really enjoying the content on your channel, the way you present the videos in what seems like a very fair-minded way, the variety of whiskies/spirits you review and also how many of the more budget friendly whiskies you review that are realistically affordable for many of the audiences! I'm quite intrigued by the character you've described the Jura 10 y/o as having and whilst I'm aware they don't have a very good reputation among whisky enthusiasts (I haven't actually tried any of their range myself yet) and am obviously a bit weary, I'm fairly keen to try this when it's available at a discounted price (as I know it often is). I've only recently looked up what their current range is and I noticed they also have the 'Bourbon Cask' and 'Journey' - these are both 40%, obviously non-aged stated and both matured exclusively in American white oak ex-bourbon casks so I was a bit puzzled as to what difference there actually is between these two expressions and indeed whether the two separate ones are even necessary but out of interest I wondered if you've tried either of them and if so what your thoughts were?
Thank you. As important as it is to cover quality stuff I think it's equally important to cover what's affordable. I think this is the Jura to go for (when on offer) if you want a cheap introduction to their style. I've had Journey and wasn't impressed. I haven't had the bourbon cask but I'd always opt for an age statement when the ABV and price are the same. Regarding why there are SO many Jura offerings. I suspect it's to fill shelves. Making a hundred and one variations on the same thing is an easy to way give your product huge shelf presence in shops which puts your brand in front of more eyeballs and also makes it harder for other distilleries to get noticed. It's the only reason I can think of. Lately I've seen the 10yo, Journey, Seven Wood, Rum Cask, Rye cask, Red Wine Cask, Bourbon cask, the Winter one (forget the name...), pale ale cask. Totally excessive!
I got gifted the Jura Journey last year. It was rather saccharine sweet, but I think that's a matter of taste and I'm sure someone would like it. The only problem I had was the big cork started substantially crumbling into the whisky near the end and I never finished it
I'm not 100% sure if I've had Journey without digging out my notes. I think I have but didn't find it particularly memorable. Personal taste / preference is always going to be a factor as you rightly say. Probably more so with Jura than many other distilleries because even the good stuff is... a little eccentric! I've had crumbly corks from Jura too. Not a good advert for the company!
I certainly can't say it's a bad whiskey, but I can't say it's great either... I think it would benefit greatly if they would up the abv to 50% then it might stand on it's own legs a little better, I'm going to try mixing it with some Laphroaig 10 to see if it's an improvement.
I think upping the ABV would help a lot. Unlike the old Origin and Superstition NAS releases I think this 10yo is decent enough to warrant it. Let me know how the blending goes 👍
I had Jura Superstition a while ago and although it was not bad it was not memorable. When the bottle was gone, so was my desire to try other Jura offerings. Maybe someday when they get their stuff to better cask selections, natural presentation and at a decent abv. Great review as always WL.
I had quite a few bottles of Superstition and it's unpeated brother Origin. Agreed that neither are bad or memorable. There are better Juras on the market now (like this) but it's not hugely better yet and still needs work and attention. I feel like there are a LOT of people like you who would buy Jura if they just improved their presentation and put out some honest, straight forward whisky. But does Jura know that? Feels like they don't 😕 Cheers Rohit 🥃
There's something unique to the Jura flavor profile that intrigues me. Perhaps it's the pepper note you mentioned. I picked up a bottle of 21 at the duty free for about 130 pounds on my way back from Edinburgh last week. It's only 43% but I'm looking forward to opening it.
Yes there certainly is. I think that's why I still haven't given up on them even after years of mostly 40% crap. They have so much potential. Hope you enjoy that 21 👍
Enjoyed your review. I had a bottle of jura years back. Not sure if it was a 10 year but it tasted floral like it'd been mixed with perfume. I think it tasted similar to a Glenmorangie.
Thanks Geordi. Well both Jura and Glenmo use absolutely massive stills. Which I think you can taste the results of in both. So there's certainly that connection 🙂
Hi WL, a sigh at the start, thought another Jura bashing video 😂. OB Jura’s are Supermarkt and travel retail whiskies cos that’s where they sell mostly. I’ve had a few Jura’s and the only one I like is (was) the superstition. Last Jura I tried was the road (travel retail) a friend gave me a healthy sample and its ok. Wish Jura would go in the same direction as their stablemate Fettercairn sometime. Enjoyed your honest take on the 10👍, good review, slàinte
Not quite Jura bashing today 😉 you're right that most Jura is taylor made for the supermarkets etc. It's understandable that that's where a lot of their revenue comes from. I just wish it wasn't. Or at least I wish they would offer more craft presented stuff in parallel. Like Fettercairn as you say. I'd be happy enough if they just brought back Jura Prophecy and Jura Elixir. I thought they were perfectly adequate mid priced offerings. Cheers 🥃
I tried 4 of their whiskies. All of them seem to share a weird and very eccentric note of... boiled vegetables? Like cabbage broth? mixed with maritime notes, caramel, malt, a touch of peat and some subtle oak. Its pretty weird indeed but i find it interesting. First, i tried the 10 y.o. Interesting in very low doses lol. The price is fantastic, but its definetely nothing special. Just different. Mabe a 7/10? Just because its at least trying to be different, and i didnt find it actually disgusting. I can understand that many people dont like it. Young, weird and lacking focus. Then... i tried the Jura Prophecy. Its one of the worst things ive ever tried. Not worst whiskies, but general edible things. A resounding 0/10. I went back to it many, many times until i just gave up and gave it away. To my knowledge, it has been circulating between friends of friends as a joke lol Then I tried a blend, Rock Oyster cask strength. I could taste the Prophecy in there, so it was disgusting. 3/10. Then, at an airport, i bought The Loch and The Paps. They both are similar, but the Paps is way better, also it has a declared age (19!). They used very high quality sherry PX casks with them (they say 30 and 40 y.o. casks respectively, which is supposed to mean that the sherry casks they are using have contained PX wine for that long before being sold to Jura, whichh is... very weird to say the least, i lived for years in Jerez de la Frontera where all these sherry casks come from and i never heard about a 40 year old PX wine, so i guess they mean these casks contained many, many batches of PX wine), and the price is suspiciously low (not even 80 euros the paps, and the loch even cheaper). Almost 46%, chill filtered and tons of colouring. The strong and very aromatic sherry notes contrast with the weird vegetable and salty character of their liquor, making it something not only original or interesting but actually... good? At least, i can say i like it, which is enough for me. The casks are definetely very high quality, in my humble opinion. So, a cask driven whisky esentialy. An 8 tor the loch and a 8,5 for the paps. Anyway, this distillery is obviously looking for its identity. They dont seem to know what to do with their, in my opinion, very original distillery character, and they are basically putting it in every cask they can afford (some of them kind of fancy), hoping that something eventually works, or in other words, sells. I think they will eventually find an standard expression and will leave behind all this experimentation. tl;dr: The paps 19 is pretty good. The prophecy is literally cursed. The rest of them are... between interesting and meh. Sorry for the bad english lol
Hi! Your English is perfectly fine 🙂 and those are some spot on tasting notes for Jura's style. Your experience with Prophecy makes me wonder if you just got a bottle from an awful batch. Jura aren't good at quality control IMHO and it reminds me of a bottle of Jura Duirach's Own 16yo that I had. It was just... ugly! Massively hot and spicy. Sulphury. Bitter. Really unpleasant. I've read reviews of it which were completely different though so I can only assume I had a really bad batch. I will try to find those two bottles you recommended if I can. Cheers 🥃
Thanks for your review. I agree that a lot of bad reviews are being made. Even ralfy has said that he will not be reviewing any JURA bottles. I have still a Jura 18 to try. At least it's bottled at 44%... Cheers
Thanks for watching Laurent. Jura is a difficult distillery to love. So much potential but an equal amount of self sabotage (colouring, filtration, ABV, cask finishes) and occasional duff bottles at every price point 😕 I can understand why people give up on them but I feel a certain amount of nostalgia for them and want them to do better. This feels like it could be a good first step in the right direction 🤞 I hope you enjoy that 18. It does at least have a decent ABV as you say. Cheers 🥃
"aim low stay low" - That sums up Jura in 4 words not just supermarkets. Glad to see someone else likes the dog bone bottle shape, but my question to you is have you find any lemon cleaning products in it? That really tainted the last bottle I had. Think If Jura followed Fettercain it could be grand.
'Aim low, stay low' Yep that's definitely Jura. They're down there with Bowmore and probably Cardhu and Dufftown leading the Low Effort Brigade. Lemon cleaning product. Perhaps but not a prominent note from what I remember. I do feel like Jura is a poor distillery when it comes to batch consistency / quality control though. I will look out for that note in future.
The NEW line of Jura is very different from previously , quite malty and sherried. . . even has similar notes to Dalmore (same owners). . . the 18 is stands out with the dark Bordeaux finish 44%
Thanks for reviewing the stuff that many whisky tubers just don't bother with :) The only Jura I have tasted so far is Journey. Absolutely "meh". This 10 yo can be had for 28-ish GBP in Bulgaria. Blatantly overpriced, given the alcohol pricing on our market in general. I can have Arran 10 for less, Loch Lomond 12 or Glen Scotia Double Cask for roughly the same money or Glenallachie 12 for say 3 GBP more. As for the supermarket-grade presented malt whisky, IMHO the chances of getting something from a big brand that has badly off-putting notes are relatively low. In the end of the day all those whiskies are targeted towards mass consumers who want "smooth", read whisky that is uneventful and lacking character. So unless one buys some really obscure, dodgy, bottom shelf garbage, they are safe :) There lies indeed the main flaw of all the supermarket malts - the lack of character due to poorly neutered presentation. Flat profile, thin body, nonexistent finish, etc. Smooth enough to take it in without paying attention to distractions like alcohol burn or, God forbid, any bold flavors. Cheers!
It's a tough job but somebody has to do it 😉 It sounds like the pricing where you are makes Jura a difficult purchase to justify. In the UK it sits gathering dust on shelves at £35 and then sells out when they drop it to £20-25. It's been that way for years. IMHO the £35 price is to make the real price seem cheap. They don't expect anyone to buy it when not on offer. I'm not sure but I think I tried Jura Journey when it first came out and 'meh' is what I remember too. Same goes for that absurd Jura Seven Wood. How many woods do we really need? 🤔 Cheers 🥃
@@WhiskyLock I just checked who is the importer of Jura for Bulgaria and to no surprise it turned out to be the same company that imports Beam Suntory. Almost everything this company sells is overpriced. Laphroaig Quartrr Cask for example costs 45-50 GBP. Mind you Bulgaria has one of the lowest taxes and exise duty in EU and alcohol in general is dirt cheap. IMHO this company just can't get better prices from the producer/distributor or is plain greedy.
@@WhiskyLock We are very small market and also the poorest country in EU. Most of the whisky import is concentrated in 5-6 companies max. And every brand has an exclusive importer.
Glad you had some fun with the stream , but I doubt our barracking the brand will make much difference : ) We can but try .. Cheers P.S Just got hold of the St.Bridget's Kirk Blend #3 on Aberdeen Whisky worth a look before it goes , should suit your palate & I'd be interested on your take .
I figured that at some point it's going to be easier for them to do as I say rather than hearing me complain 😉 While I see some small progress in this release you're probably right but it would be nice if they could at least throw us some well presented special releases once a year. I don't feel like Jura really even does that. Thanks for the tip on St Bridget's. I'll take a look. Cheers 🥃
I am with the trendy crowd on Jura, I really dislike their vegetable notes😝 However I will say that Jura the Loch works quite well, based on some quality sherry casks🙂
I always have you in mind when I review a Jura because I know how much you love the stuff 😉🤣 I was thinking about that vegetal quality and where it comes from. I think probably a combination of sulphuriness and feintiness. Which is probably quite unique for modern distilleries! I don't think I've tried Jura The Loch. I will keep an eye out for it. Cheers 🥃
My first job when I left school in the 80's was in an independent photographic shop. I still have my manual SLR camera and it takes superb pictures. When you're shooting with film you value every shot and therefore compose a picture. That's something that has been lost with throw away digital pictures. Even folk with fancy digital cameras don't get it. It's just point and shoot and hope that one of them makes the grade. Photography lesson over with. Jura are a dog's dinner. All the recent stuff fails because of the rubbish abv, colouring, chill filtering. The 12 still rakes in money in places like Spain and so I see no real ambition. Jura can make good whisky though. I had a wonderful 8 French wine cask, high abv, expression some years back which should have been a dog's dinner but was really good. What can I say about this expression? It's a nothing whisky and not worth buying. If all you want to do is buy cheap, inoffensive stuff, this ticks those boxes but it remains a bland alcohol delivery. Why do it? I put it against my well grounded Orange Juice test. Orange juice is delicious and one tenth of the price. Ten great orange juice bottles for a mediocre whisky. It's completely not worth it. Update: I'm liking the Cutty Sark way more now. Good value. WT
Independent photography shop eh? I remember those 😉 I think all the ones around here got gobbled up by Jessops just before they went bust and resurrected. I still resent Jessops for that. They are the Diageo of cameras. I mostly shoot a dSLR these days but still do things old school. Exclusively manual mode and 90% of the time I'm spot metering each shot. I think this 10yo is good for the (discounted) money. It's just about worth the twenty something pounds which I wouldn't say about their other recent offerings. It is still very much a commodity whisky though and they need to continue to try better to reach their potential. I'm glad you're enjoying that Cutty. Benefit of a bit of airing?
Not one to rave about. I think I have a little Stockholm Syndrone about it. I want it to achieve its potential. There are better drams though for sure.
There are some cartwheelingly bonkers independent bottlings of early teens Jura out there waiting to be found, but it's always a bit of a gamble which face of Jura you're going to see. I don't know why, but some of them taste like smoky porridge that was cooked in foamed milk instead of water, and then someone sprinkled a rather generous helping of walnuts and salt, and drizzled some heathery honey into the bowl. It's shocking how different these bottles are from the official bottlings; which is a real shame, because Jura is apparently perfectly capable of producing that dirty type of lightly peated distillate the likes of Springbank, Benromach and Ardnamurchan do. The type that makes me want to chew the liquid like a cow chewing on grass.
We need more 'cartwheelingly bonkers' whisky 🙂 It is strange how Jura can be so Jekyll and Hyde. I can only imagine that they have different recipes for different styles. Varying cut points into the feints? And sometimes they just mismatch recipe and cask and release it anyway 🤨 As you suggest, it seems like it wouldn't take much to make Jura really, really great but it hasn't quite happened yet.
@@WhiskyLock I have wondered if perhaps it's a type of intentionally rough, lightly peated distillate that Whyte & Mackay use exclusively to punch through the grain whisky component of their blends and add some flavour to them, so we never end up seeing it bottled as a single malt. If some of the casks fall through the cracks and get traded or brokered, I can see how the odd cask may end up in the hands of independent bottlers from time to time. I can't imagine it's the same distillate we get in the official bottlings, though I suppose aggressive chill filtration and poor cask management really does a number on this style of whisky, more than any other style.
@@osirisgolad You absolutely could be right. It might be that they make a 'rougher' style of distillate that's intended for long term maturation too. Ugly new make making the best whisky given enough time in the cask and all that.
I'll let you in on a secret... a few of these low end bottles that I review are bottle shares between me and friends & family. It helps keep weekly reviews affordable 😉 I am considering doing some sample reviews to raise the average dram quality without raising prices too much. It's something that until now I've only done with very hard to find or expensive whisky. I also want to make sure that whatever I review gets a fair trial though. It's a bit of a balancing act.
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Pretty much agree. For me this one was boring, but nothing was off putting. If I just want some whisky while chatting with friends this is fine and the price point is right.
Yep, an adequate but poorly presented basic malt. Lots of room for improvement but I do like it a lot more than the old Origin and Superstition.
I can see the pain in your face that can only come from reluctant praise for a Jura whisky. Top review!
Haha... yes it just feels wrong not to bash it 🤣 Thanks MA 🥃
I'm about done with a bottle of Jura 10, and I'm drinking some this evening, so I went onto RUclips to see what people think of it. In the United States, it can be found for around $40, which is quite a bargain for a single malt with an age statement. I love the nose on this whisky. It has just about everything that can be found in Scotch whisky, all rolled into one. I find a little peat, a hint of brine, some fruit from the sherry barrel, and a hint of malt. Unfortunately, the 40% ABV does it no favors when it reaches the palate. It is fuller bodied than I would expect, but it is still watered down. However, this whisky has character, and I think it would do very well if better presented. If a cask strength version of the 10-year without chill filtration and coloring ever shows up, I would love to try it. I think it would be an excellent expression of the character of this whisky. This 40% version might be a good choice for beginners, and I find it to be a good warm-up when I plan to taste some more potent booze afterwards, but it isn't something that I would actively seek out. I hope they release a better version at some point, or if this doesn't happen, I would be overjoyed if I ever find an independent bottling of Jura.
I just bought a bottle of another 10-year-old whisky which will replace this Jura 10 in my collection after I have finished it. It is a single barrel pick of Eagle Rare 10-year bourbon that I bought at a local bar. I tasted it there and liked it a lot, so I was happy when they told me that they were selling bottles to go. When I have my final pour of Jura 10, I will open the Eagle Rare and have my first pour from that bottle. It will be an interesting comparison. Eagle Rare is 45%, which is still on the low side, but that extra 5% makes a big difference. It is natural color too, as is required by law.
Agree with all your points. Jura 10 has a little bit of everything and shows lots of promise. IMHO it's far superior to the old NAS Origin and Superstition. I really wish we could have a high strength, unfiltered version. Will we get one? Unlikely... but we can hope
Eagle Rare is an excellent bourbon. One of my favourites. Wise pick 👍
I had quite similar thoughts. Tried it for the first time today and it struck me as having very distinctly Springbank 10 notes once it settled down in the glass for a few minutes, but without that Springbank intensity or brilliance, and also reminded me slightly of Highland Park 12. I really like my first few pours of Jura 10 but like you, wish they bottled it at 43-46% instead of 40%. They should release it natural color and non chill filtered at 46% to give Springbank 10 some real competition. For the $40 they are getting for this it should have that spec.
I'm glad someone else thinks this has potential to be a Springbank 10 alternative. Means I haven't totally lost the plot 😉
I feel like it could be so much better with minimal effort. As it is, it's still good. But just good.
Regarding the price, here in the UK it's almost always on heavy discount in at least one of the supermarkets. Full price is just under £40 but almost nobody pays that. They wait until it goes on offer for £22 and then the shelves empty 😂 So £22 is effectively the 'true' price. Which is possibly part of whats holding them back and preventing them from making those much needed changes.
They need to believe that their product can occupy the same price bracket as Springbank 10 (once they improve the presentation). Or at least Talisker 10! Fingers crossed but let's not hold our breath...
@@WhiskyLock You most certainly haven't "lost the plot"! To prove it, I hadn't watched any review of this until after I opened my first bottle of it yesterday and had my surprise that it had intimations of Springbank 10 to enough of a degree, that I had to do a direct side by side comparison between the two! So afterwards when I saw your video and you mentioned Springbank 10 I was sure we were picking up on the same potential independently. To be fair, i'm still for the most part in the neck pour stage of this bottle and have learned I can get a bit overenthusiastic with a bottle in the neck pour stage, but what a surprisingly good neck pour it was. At this abv it takes more time to pull out all the aromas and flavors though. I think I like this a bit better than you but that is in no way intended to be a signal to Jura to leave this alone. We want a better craft presentation but leave the flavor profile alone! I also agree with you that this in its current state is already better than Highland Park 12 which I'm not a fan of. I've never seen this on the shelf for less than $40 here in the states. Springbank 10 is for the most part unobtainium here. Prices here are all over the place and start well over $100 so its as if its in its own grey market. So my single bottle of SB10 is likely going to be my last. Whisky prices here in the states are totally out of control.
I want to share why it has taken over 10 years for me to finally pick this one up and hopefully Jura is reading this. I've seen it for a while and wondered about it but, there were so many other options that were either priced lower for similar specs or the same price with better specs. So after buying dozens of other bottles I'm finally running out of options at this price point which led me here out of curiosity. That shouldn't be the strategy for Jura! So if Jura wants to sell more of this they should either lower the price by 15% or they should improve the spec by 15% and I vote improve the spec.
So a $40 Jura 10 with 46% abv and no chill filtration or color added would likely increase their sales dramatically and could end up being the poor man's Springbank 10. Not a bad strategy if you ask me!
Jura is a horrible experience. I was at a Whyte Mackay event a few years ago and jura was less sampled than Whyte Mackay Light!!
It's just a bland harsh spirit you would throw in a coke unfortunately.
I will say the supermarket trap really does work in their favour, as I had multiple people buy me bottles of jura for my birthday under the assumption it was a premium product. Little did they know it is one of the whiskies I like least.
It is funny how non whisky fanatics see something like Jura in the supermarket and think 'ooh fancy!'. Even though for most of the year the price is lower than some basic blends and the quality is often not there.
They can do better, and occasionally do, but the damage that they've already done to their reputation is going to make turning things around difficult...
Hello from Ukraine! Thanks for the review i think it's good and enough balance whisky for 25 pound, i was buy two bottles and when I see good price i probably buy it again
Hello! Yes I think for £25 it's pretty good. And the low price means you don't have to worry about drinking / sharing it too quickly 🙂 stay safe my friend 🥃
I had the 18 a few years ago and it wasn't expensive but wasn't great.
Yes Jura 18 is quite affordable for an 18yo these days but there's probably a reason for that. I've never been a fan of it either.
I don't really get the hate for Jura. I've only had the 10 you have here and some bottles many moons ago. But for a 'cheap' age statement whiskey you get a lot of hit. For context my taste in whiskey is either light malty and fruity Speyside offerings or Laphroaig/Talisker... I'm not a huge middle ground guy. But I get tannins and a black tea note that I've not had before along with a rich peppery hit. Intense and pleasant with a real depth.
All taste is subjective and what I enjoy could be disgusting to other people. But Jura does seem to be shat upon by snobs rather than nerds. Yes it's a coloured chill filtered 10 year at 40%. But I really don't see those things an instant negatives... apart from colour, I wish that would go away. I don't need scotch to look like Bourbon.
Hi Luke. I think Jura deserves a bit of flack for their presentation (and some of their older cheap expressions) but not to be totally written off as many people do.
They're doing better lately than some of the other cheap, mass produced distilleries. And it at least has a bit of character. Fingers crossed they can reach their full potential some time soon though!
Really enjoying the content on your channel, the way you present the videos in what seems like a very fair-minded way, the variety of whiskies/spirits you review and also how many of the more budget friendly whiskies you review that are realistically affordable for many of the audiences!
I'm quite intrigued by the character you've described the Jura 10 y/o as having and whilst I'm aware they don't have a very good reputation among whisky enthusiasts (I haven't actually tried any of their range myself yet) and am obviously a bit weary, I'm fairly keen to try this when it's available at a discounted price (as I know it often is). I've only recently looked up what their current range is and I noticed they also have the 'Bourbon Cask' and 'Journey' - these are both 40%, obviously non-aged stated and both matured exclusively in American white oak ex-bourbon casks so I was a bit puzzled as to what difference there actually is between these two expressions and indeed whether the two separate ones are even necessary but out of interest I wondered if you've tried either of them and if so what your thoughts were?
Thank you. As important as it is to cover quality stuff I think it's equally important to cover what's affordable.
I think this is the Jura to go for (when on offer) if you want a cheap introduction to their style. I've had Journey and wasn't impressed. I haven't had the bourbon cask but I'd always opt for an age statement when the ABV and price are the same.
Regarding why there are SO many Jura offerings. I suspect it's to fill shelves. Making a hundred and one variations on the same thing is an easy to way give your product huge shelf presence in shops which puts your brand in front of more eyeballs and also makes it harder for other distilleries to get noticed. It's the only reason I can think of. Lately I've seen the 10yo, Journey, Seven Wood, Rum Cask, Rye cask, Red Wine Cask, Bourbon cask, the Winter one (forget the name...), pale ale cask. Totally excessive!
I got gifted the Jura Journey last year. It was rather saccharine sweet, but I think that's a matter of taste and I'm sure someone would like it. The only problem I had was the big cork started substantially crumbling into the whisky near the end and I never finished it
I'm not 100% sure if I've had Journey without digging out my notes. I think I have but didn't find it particularly memorable.
Personal taste / preference is always going to be a factor as you rightly say. Probably more so with Jura than many other distilleries because even the good stuff is... a little eccentric!
I've had crumbly corks from Jura too. Not a good advert for the company!
I certainly can't say it's a bad whiskey, but I can't say it's great either... I think it would benefit greatly if they would up the abv to 50% then it might stand on it's own legs a little better, I'm going to try mixing it with some Laphroaig 10 to see if it's an improvement.
I think upping the ABV would help a lot. Unlike the old Origin and Superstition NAS releases I think this 10yo is decent enough to warrant it. Let me know how the blending goes 👍
I had Jura Superstition a while ago and although it was not bad it was not memorable. When the bottle was gone, so was my desire to try other Jura offerings. Maybe someday when they get their stuff to better cask selections, natural presentation and at a decent abv. Great review as always WL.
I had quite a few bottles of Superstition and it's unpeated brother Origin. Agreed that neither are bad or memorable. There are better Juras on the market now (like this) but it's not hugely better yet and still needs work and attention.
I feel like there are a LOT of people like you who would buy Jura if they just improved their presentation and put out some honest, straight forward whisky. But does Jura know that? Feels like they don't 😕 Cheers Rohit 🥃
There's something unique to the Jura flavor profile that intrigues me. Perhaps it's the pepper note you mentioned. I picked up a bottle of 21 at the duty free for about 130 pounds on my way back from Edinburgh last week. It's only 43% but I'm looking forward to opening it.
Yes there certainly is. I think that's why I still haven't given up on them even after years of mostly 40% crap. They have so much potential. Hope you enjoy that 21 👍
Enjoyed your review. I had a bottle of jura years back. Not sure if it was a 10 year but it tasted floral like it'd been mixed with perfume. I think it tasted similar to a Glenmorangie.
Thanks Geordi. Well both Jura and Glenmo use absolutely massive stills. Which I think you can taste the results of in both. So there's certainly that connection 🙂
Hi WL, a sigh at the start, thought another Jura bashing video 😂. OB Jura’s are Supermarkt and travel retail whiskies cos that’s where they sell mostly. I’ve had a few Jura’s and the only one I like is (was) the superstition. Last Jura I tried was the road (travel retail) a friend gave me a healthy sample and its ok. Wish Jura would go in the same direction as their stablemate Fettercairn sometime. Enjoyed your honest take on the 10👍, good review, slàinte
Not quite Jura bashing today 😉 you're right that most Jura is taylor made for the supermarkets etc. It's understandable that that's where a lot of their revenue comes from. I just wish it wasn't. Or at least I wish they would offer more craft presented stuff in parallel. Like Fettercairn as you say.
I'd be happy enough if they just brought back Jura Prophecy and Jura Elixir. I thought they were perfectly adequate mid priced offerings. Cheers 🥃
I tried 4 of their whiskies. All of them seem to share a weird and very eccentric note of... boiled vegetables? Like cabbage broth? mixed with maritime notes, caramel, malt, a touch of peat and some subtle oak. Its pretty weird indeed but i find it interesting.
First, i tried the 10 y.o. Interesting in very low doses lol. The price is fantastic, but its definetely nothing special. Just different. Mabe a 7/10? Just because its at least trying to be different, and i didnt find it actually disgusting. I can understand that many people dont like it. Young, weird and lacking focus.
Then... i tried the Jura Prophecy. Its one of the worst things ive ever tried. Not worst whiskies, but general edible things. A resounding 0/10. I went back to it many, many times until i just gave up and gave it away. To my knowledge, it has been circulating between friends of friends as a joke lol
Then I tried a blend, Rock Oyster cask strength. I could taste the Prophecy in there, so it was disgusting. 3/10.
Then, at an airport, i bought The Loch and The Paps. They both are similar, but the Paps is way better, also it has a declared age (19!). They used very high quality sherry PX casks with them (they say 30 and 40 y.o. casks respectively, which is supposed to mean that the sherry casks they are using have contained PX wine for that long before being sold to Jura, whichh is... very weird to say the least, i lived for years in Jerez de la Frontera where all these sherry casks come from and i never heard about a 40 year old PX wine, so i guess they mean these casks contained many, many batches of PX wine), and the price is suspiciously low (not even 80 euros the paps, and the loch even cheaper). Almost 46%, chill filtered and tons of colouring. The strong and very aromatic sherry notes contrast with the weird vegetable and salty character of their liquor, making it something not only original or interesting but actually... good? At least, i can say i like it, which is enough for me. The casks are definetely very high quality, in my humble opinion. So, a cask driven whisky esentialy. An 8 tor the loch and a 8,5 for the paps.
Anyway, this distillery is obviously looking for its identity. They dont seem to know what to do with their, in my opinion, very original distillery character, and they are basically putting it in every cask they can afford (some of them kind of fancy), hoping that something eventually works, or in other words, sells. I think they will eventually find an standard expression and will leave behind all this experimentation.
tl;dr: The paps 19 is pretty good. The prophecy is literally cursed. The rest of them are... between interesting and meh.
Sorry for the bad english lol
Hi! Your English is perfectly fine 🙂 and those are some spot on tasting notes for Jura's style.
Your experience with Prophecy makes me wonder if you just got a bottle from an awful batch. Jura aren't good at quality control IMHO and it reminds me of a bottle of Jura Duirach's Own 16yo that I had. It was just... ugly! Massively hot and spicy. Sulphury. Bitter. Really unpleasant. I've read reviews of it which were completely different though so I can only assume I had a really bad batch.
I will try to find those two bottles you recommended if I can. Cheers 🥃
Thanks for your review. I agree that a lot of bad reviews are being made. Even ralfy has said that he will not be reviewing any JURA bottles. I have still a Jura 18 to try. At least it's bottled at 44%... Cheers
Thanks for watching Laurent. Jura is a difficult distillery to love. So much potential but an equal amount of self sabotage (colouring, filtration, ABV, cask finishes) and occasional duff bottles at every price point 😕 I can understand why people give up on them but I feel a certain amount of nostalgia for them and want them to do better. This feels like it could be a good first step in the right direction 🤞
I hope you enjoy that 18. It does at least have a decent ABV as you say. Cheers 🥃
"aim low stay low" - That sums up Jura in 4 words not just supermarkets. Glad to see someone else likes the dog bone bottle shape, but my question to you is have you find any lemon cleaning products in it? That really tainted the last bottle I had. Think If Jura followed Fettercain it could be grand.
'Aim low, stay low' Yep that's definitely Jura. They're down there with Bowmore and probably Cardhu and Dufftown leading the Low Effort Brigade.
Lemon cleaning product. Perhaps but not a prominent note from what I remember. I do feel like Jura is a poor distillery when it comes to batch consistency / quality control though. I will look out for that note in future.
The NEW line of Jura is very different from previously , quite malty and sherried. . . even has similar notes to Dalmore (same owners). . . the 18 is stands out with the dark Bordeaux finish 44%
Yes very much agree. It seems that they've recently decided to put some real effort into improvement. Now we just need better presentations.
Pleasant Peppery is a note/sensation that I appreciate as well.
Yes, has to be in moderation for me. I really dislike a lot of wood spice. But just the right amount is great 👍
Thanks for reviewing the stuff that many whisky tubers just don't bother with :)
The only Jura I have tasted so far is Journey. Absolutely "meh".
This 10 yo can be had for 28-ish GBP in Bulgaria. Blatantly overpriced, given the alcohol pricing on our market in general.
I can have Arran 10 for less, Loch Lomond 12 or Glen Scotia Double Cask for roughly the same money or Glenallachie 12 for say 3 GBP more.
As for the supermarket-grade presented malt whisky, IMHO the chances of getting something from a big brand that has badly off-putting notes are relatively low. In the end of the day all those whiskies are targeted towards mass consumers who want "smooth", read whisky that is uneventful and lacking character. So unless one buys some really obscure, dodgy, bottom shelf garbage, they are safe :) There lies indeed the main flaw of all the supermarket malts - the lack of character due to poorly neutered presentation. Flat profile, thin body, nonexistent finish, etc. Smooth enough to take it in without paying attention to distractions like alcohol burn or, God forbid, any bold flavors.
Cheers!
It's a tough job but somebody has to do it 😉
It sounds like the pricing where you are makes Jura a difficult purchase to justify. In the UK it sits gathering dust on shelves at £35 and then sells out when they drop it to £20-25. It's been that way for years. IMHO the £35 price is to make the real price seem cheap. They don't expect anyone to buy it when not on offer.
I'm not sure but I think I tried Jura Journey when it first came out and 'meh' is what I remember too. Same goes for that absurd Jura Seven Wood. How many woods do we really need? 🤔
Cheers 🥃
@@WhiskyLock I just checked who is the importer of Jura for Bulgaria and to no surprise it turned out to be the same company that imports Beam Suntory. Almost everything this company sells is overpriced.
Laphroaig Quartrr Cask for example costs 45-50 GBP. Mind you Bulgaria has one of the lowest taxes and exise duty in EU and alcohol in general is dirt cheap.
IMHO this company just can't get better prices from the producer/distributor or is plain greedy.
@@Nikolay_Nikolov I think my last bottle of Laphy QC was £35 on offer. Sounds like that importer has a bit of a monopoly at the moment!
@@WhiskyLock We are very small market and also the poorest country in EU. Most of the whisky import is concentrated in 5-6 companies max. And every brand has an exclusive importer.
Out of curiosity, what are the popular alcoholic drinks there? What does everyone drink?
$67 US here in Ecuador. All the spirits are through the roof. I like it.
It is a decent dram. I enjoy it too. Cheers 🥃
Just bought it in Quito a week ago and I love it. It´s great. Intense flavor similar to 18 Yr old whiskies.
Glad you had some fun with the stream , but I doubt our barracking the brand will make much difference : ) We can but try .. Cheers
P.S Just got hold of the St.Bridget's Kirk Blend #3 on Aberdeen Whisky worth a look before it goes , should suit your palate & I'd be interested on your take .
I figured that at some point it's going to be easier for them to do as I say rather than hearing me complain 😉 While I see some small progress in this release you're probably right but it would be nice if they could at least throw us some well presented special releases once a year. I don't feel like Jura really even does that.
Thanks for the tip on St Bridget's. I'll take a look. Cheers 🥃
I am with the trendy crowd on Jura, I really dislike their vegetable notes😝 However I will say that Jura the Loch works quite well, based on some quality sherry casks🙂
I always have you in mind when I review a Jura because I know how much you love the stuff 😉🤣
I was thinking about that vegetal quality and where it comes from. I think probably a combination of sulphuriness and feintiness. Which is probably quite unique for modern distilleries!
I don't think I've tried Jura The Loch. I will keep an eye out for it. Cheers 🥃
My first job when I left school in the 80's was in an independent photographic shop. I still have my manual SLR camera and it takes superb pictures. When you're shooting with film you value every shot and therefore compose a picture. That's something that has been lost with throw away digital pictures. Even folk with fancy digital cameras don't get it. It's just point and shoot and hope that one of them makes the grade. Photography lesson over with.
Jura are a dog's dinner. All the recent stuff fails because of the rubbish abv, colouring, chill filtering. The 12 still rakes in money in places like Spain and so I see no real ambition. Jura can make good whisky though. I had a wonderful 8 French wine cask, high abv, expression some years back which should have been a dog's dinner but was really good.
What can I say about this expression? It's a nothing whisky and not worth buying. If all you want to do is buy cheap, inoffensive stuff, this ticks those boxes but it remains a bland alcohol delivery. Why do it? I put it against my well grounded Orange Juice test. Orange juice is delicious and one tenth of the price. Ten great orange juice bottles for a mediocre whisky. It's completely not worth it.
Update: I'm liking the Cutty Sark way more now. Good value.
WT
Independent photography shop eh? I remember those 😉 I think all the ones around here got gobbled up by Jessops just before they went bust and resurrected. I still resent Jessops for that. They are the Diageo of cameras.
I mostly shoot a dSLR these days but still do things old school. Exclusively manual mode and 90% of the time I'm spot metering each shot.
I think this 10yo is good for the (discounted) money. It's just about worth the twenty something pounds which I wouldn't say about their other recent offerings. It is still very much a commodity whisky though and they need to continue to try better to reach their potential.
I'm glad you're enjoying that Cutty. Benefit of a bit of airing?
Have to say a bottle I will never buy again.
Not one to rave about. I think I have a little Stockholm Syndrone about it. I want it to achieve its potential. There are better drams though for sure.
Me too
There are some cartwheelingly bonkers independent bottlings of early teens Jura out there waiting to be found, but it's always a bit of a gamble which face of Jura you're going to see. I don't know why, but some of them taste like smoky porridge that was cooked in foamed milk instead of water, and then someone sprinkled a rather generous helping of walnuts and salt, and drizzled some heathery honey into the bowl. It's shocking how different these bottles are from the official bottlings; which is a real shame, because Jura is apparently perfectly capable of producing that dirty type of lightly peated distillate the likes of Springbank, Benromach and Ardnamurchan do. The type that makes me want to chew the liquid like a cow chewing on grass.
We need more 'cartwheelingly bonkers' whisky 🙂
It is strange how Jura can be so Jekyll and Hyde. I can only imagine that they have different recipes for different styles. Varying cut points into the feints? And sometimes they just mismatch recipe and cask and release it anyway 🤨
As you suggest, it seems like it wouldn't take much to make Jura really, really great but it hasn't quite happened yet.
@@WhiskyLock I have wondered if perhaps it's a type of intentionally rough, lightly peated distillate that Whyte & Mackay use exclusively to punch through the grain whisky component of their blends and add some flavour to them, so we never end up seeing it bottled as a single malt. If some of the casks fall through the cracks and get traded or brokered, I can see how the odd cask may end up in the hands of independent bottlers from time to time.
I can't imagine it's the same distillate we get in the official bottlings, though I suppose aggressive chill filtration and poor cask management really does a number on this style of whisky, more than any other style.
@@osirisgolad You absolutely could be right. It might be that they make a 'rougher' style of distillate that's intended for long term maturation too. Ugly new make making the best whisky given enough time in the cask and all that.
Enjoyed the review
Thanks Gert 🥃
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why waste ur hard earned money on these 😂
I'll let you in on a secret... a few of these low end bottles that I review are bottle shares between me and friends & family. It helps keep weekly reviews affordable 😉
I am considering doing some sample reviews to raise the average dram quality without raising prices too much. It's something that until now I've only done with very hard to find or expensive whisky. I also want to make sure that whatever I review gets a fair trial though. It's a bit of a balancing act.