My thanks to @Nock for the reviewed sample, which is my third taste from this bottle. The reviewed bottle is # 10,280 of 15,600 total. It has been open for 7 months and is half full. Aging is reported to have taken place in a refill cask
Nose: this begins with the typical Talisker brine and medium peat initially underlain with a rich deeply-pitched honeyed underbelly here. This smells like a warm and reassuring hearth. The characteristic Talisker black pepper is seamlessly interwoven with the other flavours. The sweetness rather quickly shifts from honey to a higher pitched and more refined-sugar sort of range, with some wood influence of vanilla. The barley-malt is pretty gentle in texture and brings with it lemon citrus. Over time in the glass the elements of pepper and citrus, and, to a lesser extent, peat, increase in prominence. The balance among the flavours of sweet and bitter/briny is quite good
Taste: the nose flavours translate to the mouth with increased intensity
Finish: long echoes of sweet/bitter/brine, seasoned with lots of pepper
Balance: this is a quintessential example of the Talisker style, and a real treat to drink. You can taste long aging here in the mellowness of the aged barley-malt. The MALT component of the whisky tastes different when it has been long aged. Also, it should be noted that this whisky was mostly distilled and barreled in approximately 1980, back when industrial practices were a bit different and probably more personally hands-on. There is something noticeably different in the malts produced in the 60s and 70s...different better quality of barley? More personal loving attention from the staff? Both I should think
(Water added raised the pitch level and merged the flavours of the nose. Water merged the mouth flavours also, and emphasised medium intensity bitter-sweet peat. I much prefer this without water, even at 57.2% ABV.)
Great to hear from you @MaltActivist! Like you, I am a very big fan of Talisker 57 Degrees North. I would say that the 2005 Talisker 25 yo comes across as more refined than the 57 D North...you can really taste the age here. On the other hand 57 D North seems to me more robust and aggressive. I love the brute power of 57 Degrees North. The 2005 bottling of Talisker 25 yo impresses me with its beauty, dignity, and refinement; Talisker 57 Degrees North just sweeps me away in a way in which I like to be swept away. 57 North is a bigger more overwhelming experience, I would say.
@rigmorole, thank you for joining in. Oh sure, I've commented several times on Connosr at greatly liking the Talisker 18 yo. I include it on my profile page list of favourite whiskies, and I've stockpiled several bottles of Talisker 18 for future consumption.
It is important to note that distillery bottled Talisker 25 yo comes in different year releases, which vary quite a bit in ABV, from 45.8% to 58.1%. I expect that there is some noteworthy variation among these various releases, but I only have experience with this 2005 release Talisker 25 yo.
Comparing 2005 Talisker 25 yo (db) to Talisker 18, the additional wood influence is obvious in the 25 yo. I would describe both the barleymalt component per se and the overall effect of the flavours of the 25 yo as more vivid and defined than those of the 18 yo, which always leave me with a soft warm fuzzy glow.
As to the "farmy" quality which you enjoy, I suspect that you'd find this 2005 Talisker 25 to be one step into that camp, but without the same strength of that effect which you find in Brora.