A few weeks ago I was to participate in a Berry Bros. & Rudd twitter tasting organized by Steve of the whisky Wire, but because of many factors mainly incompetence of TNT international, and their Israeli branch (Never use TNT for sending samples , never!) i got the samples only a few days AFTER the event took place. And here i am sampling it out of context, but it sure sounded too yummy not to include in one of my impromptu tasting sessions. The Isle of jura is a wee little place, I’ve written about in length in the past after my visit to the island and the lovely distillery located on it (see Part A, Part B). I will always have a warm spot in my heart for this place, and having tasted a few Jura whiskies as they should be tasted (No chill filtration, no colouring, Cask strength) I know this liquid can be amazing. Hence, i was really keen on tasting this one. enough talk. let’s dram.
Berry’s own Isle of Jura 1976, 35 yo ,53.5% abv . Bottled 2012 , £195
Nose: Ah! This is a nice one. Sherried and lovely. Rum soaked sultanas , dates and figs. Lovely fruit salad effect. Yumm. Some old furniture and cigar leaves. A certain earthiness and peat with wood spices and maybe a hint of mint too.
Palate : spicy with quite some ginger up front then getting much sweeter with honey like qualities , barley sugars , much more earthy peat than suggested on the nose, with a bitter chocolate twist.
Finish : Bitter dark chocolate , peat , soot. Very drying.
A very very nice dram with the fruit, soot, smoke, peat and dryness at the end.