MESSAGE IN A BARREL

The wild of Skye meets the warmth of Spain in the Talisker Bodega Series: 40-year-old, which Shamilee Vellu tastes in Andalucia before its global launch.

It’s long been said that opposites attract but a lasting, happy union depends on fundamental similarities. This perfectly describes Talisker’s recently launched Bodega Series, which showcases the effects of sherry cask finishes on the finest single malt whiskies.

Not one to do anything by half-measures, Talisker, based in the rugged Scottish Isle of Skye, has chosen to kickstart its series with a 40-year-old single malt scotch whisky – the 1978 vintage – one of its oldest and most valuable expressions to date.

Matured in refill American oak barrels, it’s been finished in 40-year-old Amontillado sherry casks from Jerez, Spain in a fascinating process that takes the brand forward by looking back into its colourful history for inspiration.

I’ve travelled to Jerez, Spain’s heart of sherry production and undeniably, the sunnier half of this seemingly unlikely coupling, to trace the origins of the partnership. Sherry casks were the dominant cask used in whisky production especially in the 1900s, and an archival deep dive at Talisker serendipitously unearthed trading connections with Delgado Zuleta, one of the most esteemed – and oldest – sherry producers in the coastal town of Sanlucar de Barrameda.

On first impression, the partners in this union may seem as different as chalk and cheese.

After all Skye, the northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, with its windswept, rain-drenched and craggy landscape, would seem to have little in common with the sunny Mediterranean city I now find myself in. The warm May sun bathes everything – from the glittering waterfall in the town square to the riotous profusion of fuschia bougainvillea blooms adorning Delgado Zuleta’s bodega entrance – with a golden glow, rendering every colour twice as vivid.