Isle Of Jura 10 y.o. Origin

40% abv

Score:  84.5/100

Oh my.  What the heck has Jura done?  A few years back I scored Jura 10 in the low 70s.  Fast forward a year or two, and a revisit showed some marked improvement.  Less heavy-handed on the nutty, malty, oakiness.  A little bigger on sweetness and balance.  Think I had it up around 79 points.  Now…yet another couple years on…here I sit, enjoying a nice dish of crow.  After all the less than stellar things I’ve said about this dram in the past, I have to switch allegiances and admit that it is now at a standard where I would unequivocably recommend on to others.

Yes, of course it is still an entry level malt, but it really is a tasty one.  From failing grades to flying colors, in other words.  Not sure what they’ve done, but my immediate thoughts are a tweak to the spirit cut itself and better wood management.

Much like some of the other malts from the Whyte and Mackay portfolio, this one suffers from too little horsepower.  In this day and age of fierce competition and a seemingly never ending whisky boom, 40% seems like an archaic stance.  Other distilleries have taken note.  Time for Jura to embrace the new minimum standard; 46%…NCF…nae color.  I’m not a stickler over color, but the first two…yes, please.

Either way…we like.  We are now fans.

To me, in earlier incarnations, this malt always seemed over-oaked, yet not mature.  Almost counter-intuitive.  Nice to see the wood being held in check and a nice balance found.  Well done, Diurachs.  A ‘most improved’, for sure.

Nose:  Malty and salty.  Caramel and toffee notes.  Something akin to a young-ish Bunnahabhain.  Honey and orange.  Still some rather youthful (and kinda feinty) notes, but this is, relatively speaking, a young malt.  Candy fruitiness.  Thick veins of vanilla.  Home made playdough (think salty dough).

Palate:  Nutty.  Plastic and waxy.  Slightly drying with a peppery nip.  Some fruitiness, but indistinguishable really.  Imagine a fruit cocktail in syrup thrown in the blender to become a homogenous…BUT NICE…fruit puree.  What’s in it?  Dunno.  Do I like?  You bet.  Grapefruit pith at the end.  Very slightly drying.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt