Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
wines overflowed and ignited on the coal fire underneath. But at least nobody was taking
flash photos at the same time). In the very old days the local laird wouldn't allow a pier
to be built, so the barrels had to be floated out to boats waiting in the loch - a spirit of
selfish, short-sighted obstructionism that many modern Highland landowners seem only
too happy to continue.
The weather is the threat to this year's production. Walking over the bridge in the car
park we cross the stream that feeds the distillery, and it's barely a trickle down a channel
obviously designed to take a flood; the dry winter and warm spring mean the hills above
the distillery are nearly dry.
Talisker is a prodigious whisky, and one of the few that - I've heard it closely argued
- never benefits from being watered down. It's like the Black Cuillin range itself; unique,
fiercely intrusive, savagely spectacular, not for the faint-hearted but wildly rewarding for
those prepared to tackle it. Representing the Islands in Diageo's Classic Malts range has
given it some of the wider recognition it deserves, though you can imagine that some
people, just taking a casual tasting, might find its uncompromising power off-putting. It's
another Drambuie/Jacobite link, as it was Talisker, unsurprisingly, which was used in the
original home-made version of the liqueur, available in the Broadford Hotel.
A rich orangey-red colour, Talisker exudes a lazy pungent, smoky peatiness backed
up by a sudden landslide of flavours which wouldn't be out of place in a curry; spicy,
peppery, nutty, salty, fruity, sweet and sour. Rolling in some time after this onslaught, the
finish is like a blast of smoked seaweed wrapped around crushed peppercorns. Inhaled. A
bit of a tube-clearer.
It's usually watered down to the unusual strength of 45.8 abv (and some caramel col-
ouring is added), however the bottle I buy is a 60 per cent abv and only available at the
distillery (it's hard for me to resist exclusives like this). This is one of the first bottles we
open when we start our next round of tasting back in Fife, and it's the first to be finished.
Talisker is the favourite whisky of a quite amazing number of people and I completely
understand why; there really are few better.
We head for Portree by the B885, a GWR that leads over the hills from Bracadale, rip-
pling thinly over the peat and diving through the forest before curving round and down
into the town.
'And I'll have the Cuillin Skink too; never could resist a pun, and you rarely see them on
a menu.'
The waiter looks blank. 'Sorry?'
'Cullen Skink,' I say, pointing at the menu. 'It says “Cuillin Skink” here. Just saying
I appreciate the joke.'
'Umm,' the guy says, frowning, 'it's not a joke, actually, sir. That is how it's spelled.'
