Jura Aged 10 Years Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 700ml

Product Information

Palate: Caramel, right off the bat. It suddenly turns into bitter, sweet and sour honey. Toffee. Its all lightly coated with molasses. Nose: slightly oily, salty little bit of caramel, a very floral honey and I can’t get the thought of smoked fish out of my head. Bread dough and a tiny bit of pretty raw tequila. With water really dominated by bread dough, there is a suggestion of floral and even some sherbert. To my tastes, this Jura 10 Years relaunch is a welcome change and brings a more balanced and inviting character that was missing from the original version. I hope this new approach and style makes its way through their lineup and we start seeing more releases come out that fit along this profile and deliver an even stronger overall portfolio. Jura 10 Years Info

I have to admit that I'm not really that much of a Jura fan. I appreciate the superstition, I like the Diurachs, I good friends with the Prophecy, but the 10yo? Jura 10 Year Old. A whisky only Jura could make, born of our Island and still produced today in a bottle originally shaped to withstand the roughest of journeys from our home. Crafted in unusually tall stills, matured in the fresh sea air and American white oak ex-bourbon barrels and finished in the finest aged Oloroso Sherry butts – it’s the perfect marriage of Highland and Island styles.” Is it peated? Unpeated? Sherried? This new 10 year old single malt from Jura (located on the eponymous island next door to Islay) is all three. Here’s some info on this brand new expression:Nose: Hint of salt, heather, alcohol and something which I think might be spiced pear. The slightest smell of cellar (in agood way!) Fairly light nose, but not unpleasant. Shall we say 17/25? That's the bad news, the good news is that smell doesn't translate onto the palate. Although not much else does. This doesn't have tremendous character, its balanced but not in the sense of balance big flavours, more in the sense of not too sweet, not too acidic, not too rich, not too thin. It doesn't do anything wrong, but it doesn't do anything particularly right either.

This bottle I have just bought is pretty nice, in an odd sort of way. It has quite a bit of character, although I am still not altogether convinced i like the Jura character. 40% is about right for it for me, as I don't want that Jura weirdness to be much more intense. I feel a bit the same about Bowmores. I don't think that higher alcohol content is always better in weird whiskies. During the finish - which is pleasantly long - salt and sweet battle for attention, while being goaded by light peat and peppers. Nose: Somewhat weird nose. Caramel and a strong whiff of a pungent musk. Probably the worst nose of any single malt I've tried. Clove, ginger, and strong molassePalate: Somewhat thin, soft peat smoke, vanilla and soft fruitiness led by pears and a bit of green apples, oak spices and bitterness towards the end. Nose: Light and surprisingly fresh: oranges, cereals, sunflower oil, a pinch of butter, wood polish, with faint hints of salt, but overall notes of spring blossoms. Mouth: weak, with a vague sweetness (honeyed cereals, fudge and something of a sweetened tea maybe), joined by increasingly unpleasant flavours. Porridge, a little rubber and bitter notes. Dry, earthy notes. Aniseed. Leather. No fruits whatsoever, making it rather unsexy. Pallet: sweet smooth arrival, sweet honey comes first then it’s floury (as in bread dough), there is a suggestion of floral (as in flowers) but then the tequila comes in as you swallow. Drinks as if it’s either very young or at a higher strength than 40. With water still doesn’t go down easy, much more mellow arrival, crème caramel? Really really delicate now. The bread is now toasted, slightly malty and nutty.

Jura 10 is handcrafted on the Isle of Jura, a rugged, elemental island nestled a few miles off the West Coast of Scotland. Home to around 200 Islanders, one road, one pub and one distillery, Jura was once described by author George Orwell as the ‘most un-get-at-able’ place due to its remote location. Established in 1810, Jura whisky has been crafted on its island home for over two centuries. Jura 10 bottle is totally transparent and colorless, which leads us to this peculiar note about the hue: if you see the bottle, the scotch looks amber to reddish with some brown highlights, but if you pour a dram, it's straw yellow with a slightly greenish cast to it. Of course, the latter is the one I use as a reference.On the nose, the whisky is light and fragrant, with notes of fresh flowers, gentle cinnamon and nutmeg notes, an undercurrent of fresh grains, and the slightest hint of smoke. Largely standard stuff, aromatically speaking, but it all comes together cleanly and invitingly. Nose: A light nose with a good helping of cereal. Otherwise there are some apples, etc. A basic ex-bourbon nose that hardly exudes originality on the first whiff. On the second whiff, I get a somewhat herbal or vegetal note. Ginger and wisps of salt are here, too. There’s a bit of sharpness here, but it never loses its balance.