Isle of Jura: scary flavour profile on Friday the 13th
Well, I know it is not Black Friday today, but it IS Friday the Thirteenth, and those can get black too. Any excuse to put something in the glass eh? We taste an edition of the Black Friday releases that The Whisky Exchange used to do. I actually don’t know if they keep up with this tradition, but I saw no release for 2025 in the Whiskybase, so perhaps the series has ended. We got the last release which comes from 2024. A peated Jura, no less! The only distillery on the island where George Orwell worked on his real life soap opera “1984” (I mean, look at the world), is still trying to shake its shady reputation. Jura was a bulk producer and apparently no one cared in which cask the spirit came of age. That all changed with an extensive reracking program that took several years. I am still undecided if I really like Jura malt, but the numbers don’t lie. With selling around 3 million bottles it is close to the top ten of best sold single malts.
Black Friday 16 years old (Isle of Jura), bottled at 53,8 % abv by Elixir Distillers
First things first: The Black Friday bottling of 2024 was a peated Isle of Jura expression matured on oloroso sherry American oak hogsheads. Outturn was 800 bottles from a vintage 2008. Bottled for the Whisky Exchange.
Upon Sipping: Lots of ham and sticky cheese fingers, amidst a smoky bacon flavour. More British than Scottish, I suppose. I believe I had crisps that were flavoured like this Jura once. Smoky bacon. Nothing wrong with that, but do you want it in a glass? The taste is surprisingly sweeter than the nose would suggest, and then the peat comes into play, with a nice, raw woody edge. A very herbal single malt, of maybe like chewing cacao leaf. Lots of layers, but let’s add some water. Oh, that makes all the difference, the Jura explodes in a vegetal, meaty peaty way. Some farmland smells, blooming gorge flowers, grass and a whiff of sea air. The attack on the tongue is more mild now, big on brine and chocolate notes. Maybe not the most logical combination, but it works. Jura proves once more it is quite the singular whisky.
Word to the Wise: I will probably never become the biggest Jura fan, but this bottling is a great example of what a more raw expression from this distillery can deliver. The peat smoke is not too present, and makes for a nice balanced drinking experience.
Score: 83 points.