Thompson Brothers Isle of Jura 34 Year (1989)
Specs
ABV: 45.9%
Age: 34 Years
Recipe: 100% malted barley. Matured in a refill hogshead.
Distiller: Isle of Jura
Country/Region: Scotland/Island
Tasting Notes
Nose: Sweet fruit bomb, pineapple, papaya, green apple, lemon frosting, vanilla, oak and malt. Digging deeper there’s a lot of ocean funk with seaweed notes.
Palate: Medium thickness, chalky, with a good weight, The fruit notes I got on the nose disappear almost entirely on the palate. It’s salty and savory, with ginger, fennel, barley, and more cereal grains. Slightly vegetal with some earthy notes.
Finish: Medium to long length, drying, oak, more barley, gentle white pepper, a hint of smoke, vanilla, and mint.
Rating: 86/100 – Excellent | Really quite exceptional
This isn’t something that I would reach for regularly but I can appreciate it as both a challenging and rewarding pour. The nose is the star of this bottle and it’s something special. Deep and complex with a variety of interesting tropical fruit notes. The palate is lovely and has a great almost sake-like quality but doesn’t quite live up to the hype of the nose. I can’t recall ever tasting something that differs as drastically in flavor between the two as this Jura.