TALISKER DISTILLERY

WHISKY

THE TALISKER DISTILLERY

Deep and elemental, Talisker is very much a product of its rugged, windswept home. Join us on the Minginish Peninsula, take in the dramatic views of the Black Cuillin, and discover why Talisker whisky distillery owes so much to the sea.

The Isle of Skye is renowned for its rich, varied landscape. With its soft, serene shores and a astonishing view to the Cuillin mountains. Talisker Skye is the distillery which reflects the entirety of the sea at its best. With a smoky sweetness, maritime notes and a spicy edge, it makes you feeling the taste of the sea.

The oldest working distillery on the Isle of Skye, Talisker is an alluring, sweet, full-bodied single malt that’s so easy to enjoy, and like Skye itself, so hard to leave.

The distillery was founded in 1830 by two doctor’s sons, Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill]. After a number of false starts on other sites, the distillery was established in 1831 at Carbost and expanded in 1900 at which point it had its own pier, tramway and tied cottages. It even had its own currency, denominated in days worked].

In those days Robert Louis Stevenson ranked Talisker as a style on its own, comparable with the Islay and Glenlivet whiskies. It switched to double distillation in 1928 and was partly rebuilt in 1960 after a fire. It still retains the tradition of using wooden fermentation vats or washbacks. Water for the process comes from Hawk Hill, beside the distillery.

The distillery has five stills (a relic from the days when all Talisker whisky went through triple distillation) and the wash stills are unusual in having U-shaped lye pipes to take the vapour. A small secondary pipe recycles some of the vapour back to the still. The wooden tubs for the condensors (‘worms’) are outside the building and survived the fire in 1960 courtesy of a last-minute change in the wind…