Today's offering is from the Isle of Jura and staggeringly once again is a new dram for me, but is more in my comfort zone being a single malt. Jura are a hugely popular distillery and you'll see bottles at every supermarket with huge supermarket at this time of year. The Prophecy and Superstition are ok, but as I've tried more whiskies have lost a bit of their sheen and appeal. The 16yr is primarily matured in American oak (14yrs) before being transferred to sherry casks so should have more body about it than the other two however, it is disappointing that this is bottled at 40%.
On the nose the initial hit is of orange with cloves and a touch of cinnamon. Toffee and brown sugar come through after these, a huge bout of sweetness to combat the citrus with a load of vanilla chucked on top and just the lightest touch of peat. The nose on this is very nice, it will certainly please pretty much anyone, but is fairly middle of the road and doesn't hit any real high notes that make you sit up in your chair.
On the palate the first thing to come through is the sweetness of toffee, vanilla and sugar, but these are overtaken by sweet spices, tobacco, baked fruits and a huge crescendo of peppery spice and peat. On the finish all the spicy mouth-coating flavours come crashing down and leave a residue of
muscovado sugar, coffee and dark chocolate.
I have to be honest in saying that this is a lot better than I was expecting, I have had a bit of a dampener towards Jura lately and this has somewhat restored by opinion of the distillery. This is a full-bodied, heavy and oomphy whisky that has a good amount of complexity and whilst not at a higher abv is still at a decent price.
Isle of Jura 16yr Diurachs' own can be bought from Master of Malt for £43.07 but is also available from a lot of the supermarkets.
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