ABV: 40 %
Origin: Scotland unspecified
Type: Blended
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 1/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet malt and butterscotch. At first there’s a heavy layer of grain spirit with a base of vanilla and butterscotch. There’s a feint hay note in the background. With time in the glass a sweet maltiness builds up. There’s an unpleasant note somewhere in the middle which seem to come from within the grain spirit. It also seems like there are ex-sherry casks in the mix because there are overripe berry notes buried deep within. This is an overly sweet nose.

Mouth: It starts out sweet and it sort of prickles the toungue. The butterscotch comes marching in and it is accompanied with the maltiness and the unpleasant grain spirit note. The small hay note sits around the edges and it’s now clear that it’s coming from peat. This outer layer works itself inwards and actually makes it an okay experience after a while. The oakiness do come through here, but it’s quite anonomous and uninteresting with a bland bitterness to it.

Finish: Vanilla and just a feint hint of raisins pass by before it becomes a fight between the unpleasant grain spirit and the bland, bitter oakiness. All the flavours die down quickly and all that’s left is a mild cloud of ethanol and a hint of butterscotch. The peaty hay note return in the late finish as a thin outer layer. The finish is by far worst part of an otherwise decent put together cheap blend.

Additional information
The Talisman is made by J&W Hardie, which is owned by Tomatin. It contains 25 malt whiskies that make up 40 % of the blend. The other 60 % consists of 4 grain whiskies. 1 % of the blend is an unnamed islay malt. The youngest component is 5 YO.