Talisker 10 Year Old Face-Off: Old Blue “Maps / Made by the Sea” vs New 2021 Orange “From the Oldest Distillery on the Isle of Skye”
Unfortunately, the re-do of Talisker 10’s labels was also a drastic redo of Talisker 10’s recipe. I don’t recommend it if you liked the coastal feel of the old Talisker 10.
Talisker 10 Year Old Face-Off: Old Blue “Maps / Made by the Sea” vs New 2021 Orange “From the Oldest Distillery on the Isle of Skye”
Tasted neat
In 2021, Diageo re-branded Talisker with new labels (and potentially new juice) in a drive for sustainability:
The packaging weight has been reduced by 6%, with an aim of lowering Talisker’s material usage by 28 tonnes across this year.
The recyclability of the product has been increased by 99.8% with regards to weight, while the plastic components have been reduced by 86%. A wood stopper has replaced the original plastic stopper.
In our left corner we have the old blue / maps style Talisker vs the new in 2021 refreshed orange label. Both are aged to at least 10 years old, and bottled at the same 45.8% ABV. I believe they are chill-filtered, and artificially coloured.
- Colors: chestnut (1.2) VS russet (1.3)
- Nose: salt spray, iodine, peat, a little caramel, very briney VS artificial cherry, iodine and peat, some sherry
- Taste: camphor, some butter biscuits, salt, and oak VS thinner sherry, some berries, strawberry tart; tbh, a little hot as well
- Finish: long, sea salt and peat smoke VS short, residual sweetness, a tiny hint of smoke
While batch variation is a potential issue, I’ve never tasted a batch of the old Talisker 10 that tastes like the new one, which seems like it’s been reformulated to be a “smoother” single malt, which has made it infinitely more boring.
Gone is the intense brineyness and coastal feel, replaced with generic lightly integrated sherry that completely loses the idea of why people liked Talisker 10.
I won’t be buying the new 10, and I really hope the recipe for the new 18 year old has not been changed.
Ratings: 5/10 VS 3/10
