Isle of Jura Distillery (W&M.#1)

As I already told you, I'm embarking on a small journey of the malt whiskies that's most likely to be found in Whyte & Mackay blends, leading up to a big Whyte & Mackay blend tasting. The second newest addition to the Whyte & Mackay family is the Isle of Jura Distillery. This distillery was purchased by W&M as late as 1993, one year prior to that of Tamnavulin, and there have been released some interesting CS-versions lately. I won't have any Tamnavulins in these tastings for two reasons. There are very few around and it has been closed from when W&M purchased it and all the way up until 2007 except for some active weeks back in 2000.


Isle of Jura NAS 40% OB

This bottle was originally sold on the 24/9 1990 according to a receipt I got when I bought it, so there might have been some bottle maturation going on, and by the looks of it, a tiny evaporation. Colored with some E's. Smells musty, sauna, sweat, charcoal, not very nice to say the least. The palate shows some peatiness, burnt wood, pine, peppery, doesn't exactly get any better. It has aftertaste of dry soil and ashes.

If offered to me knowing what I know now, I would say no thanks: 2.5


Isle of Jura 23yo 1988-2011 52.9% The Whisky Agency

Another on that were distilled prior to the W&M ownership, but bottled very recently. There aren't much whisky sold by independent bottlers from distilleries owned by W&M. I wonder why... Mahogany color, it smells sweet, honey nectarine and sweet red wine, zinfandel style. again this musty old smell, but works better this time as the sweetness kind of balances it out. The taste is peaty and peppery, more coastal, soap, burnt oak, roasted pine nuts and almonds. It's not bad by any means, it's just that this rough and dirty style isn't my thing. But if you like a whisky that burns a bit and leaves you tastebuds numb then this is for you.

For those with a sort of "special" taste, I can see why some people would love this: 4


Isle of Jura 13yo 1991-2004 55.1% James MacArthur's

Color of white wine, smells smoky, soapy, rhubarb, dark chocolate, rubber, phenol, gin, earthy, musty once again. The taste is peaty and peppery, vanilla, lime peel, ginger, bittersweet, tonic water, a better whisky than the prior two I must say. Its far from perfect but it seems more balanced and more fresh. There's this pine sensation that I'm starting to come familiar with and here it works. The flavors are not running over each other and not fighting to shine, its just a whisky with lots of layers that shifts very well. All in all I think this might be one of the best Isle of Juras I've had so far.

Here's to James MacArthur's for once again selecting a good and young whisky: 6.5


Isle of Jura 15yo 1992-2007 55.4% The Single Malts of Scotland

Not to be confused with Malts of Scotland, which is a whole other IB. Once again white wine color. Smells more spirity this time, and more peaty. Vanilla. Very bourbon-wood influenced. Peat, vanilla and alcohol. Sounds almost like some young peated highlander, Old Ballantruan or something. The taste is more burnt and spirity, I usually don't do this with such peaty whisky, but I'll add water to this. Hopefully it will now prove to have some personality. It gets sweeter, more vanilla, but again the spirity and bitter/burnt notes runs the show. This was some of a letdown after the very good JMcA version.

Bitter and spirity: 2


Isle of Jura 15yo 1995-2010 56.5% OB Boutique Barrels

Using a french word to describe an american oak cask used to mature scotch whisky. Hopefully this will give me more pleasure than the dreadful SMOS-bottling I had prior to this. Light brown hue. It smells peppery, ginger, raw chopped onions, again very bitter yet sweet. More influence from the bourbon cask on this one. The taste is bittersweet, lime rind, sulphur, honey, vanilla, rhubarb, grape seeds, olive oil, oak, no pine in this one. It is the first, and only, whisky in this session that has been distilled after W&M became owners. But I believe that the style of the whisky not necessarily changes because of a new ownership, after all, its the same equipment and more often than not, the same workers. I must say that this bottling shows some potential. To make a wild guess, I guess that we will see even more good Jura bottlings in years to come.

Nice stuff, a close second so far in this tasting: 6


Jura 10yo 1984-1995 58.8% Cadenhead's

The oldest, yet the youngest whisky in this tasting, apart from the OB, which of course could contain some very old whisky, but I doubt it. There are many old glorious Cadenhead's out there that goes for a fair price on auctions and such, at least compare to the rather hip newcomer indies such as TWA, Douglas Laing and Malts of Scotland. There is no "Isle of" on the label, its simply called Jura, but there's only one distillery on Isle of Jura, so its not difficult to reason its origin. Color of apple juice. Smells quite spirity, some vanilla and some peat. Most of all its spirity. The taste is, well, it goes from hell to heaven, dry notes of marzipan, dark chocolate, lavender, vanilla, rhubarb, strawberry jam, honey, salt, dry biscuits, amazing... To think that in these days, people are buying 30+yo whiskies a year for the total amount that a new car would cost, there's so much good young whisky around that probably goes to blending, vattings and such. I have praised James MacArthur's and also Cadenhead's for bottling young and extremely good whisky before. Even Signatory with its CS range have had some fantastic young whiskies, a 7yo Laphroaig to mention one. I hope that there will be more good young IB bottlings in the years to come, and not just because the old stock in distillery warehouses have been drained, but because the whisky is of superior quality.

The best (Isle of) Jura bottling I've ever tried: 7.5