Review #27: Isle of Jura 23yr 1989/2013 Heavily Peated, Signatory CS for K&L, ex-bourbon, cask #30707, 58.7% abv

should I open this? I think I should.

I might already have a few bottles open, but this came a few days ago. I think it needs to be opened. (Well, I don't have anything from Jura that's open ...)

Last time I had a Jura it looked like tartan kitsch and didn't taste like anything. But there have been a bunch of single casks from the 80's (albeit mostly '88s and not so heavily peated) around Europe, so I've been looking forward to this. K&L was good enough to ship it quickly even though my mixed-up order contained something from every location that they could have imagined.

The nose is brilliant. Intense and yet restrained, somehow. (That is, it doesn't smell like a wet tarry dog on fire in a bog, but the flavors are distinct and powerful.) Very coastal: iodine, wet briny rocks, kelp, tobacco juice and olive brine, a bit of oily smoked salmon. (There's a kind of pervasive smokiness over everything.) There's just a bit of dry grassiness and some underripe fruit: gooseberries (actually, how do you tell if those are ripe?), apple peelings, maybe plums. Some leather and a touch of creamy ex-bourbon sweetness. Plus lemon taffy.

Palate is oily and salty. So sardines and bitter herbs cooked in salty brown butter over a driftwood fire. Or maybe put the flaming driftwood and some rock salt in your mouth while you hold the sardine and squeeze some lemon over it. Something like that. Very long finish with lots more peat and salty licorice.

I've had this for a couple days now and feel confident in saying that it's good. I'll be devoting myself to further tests, but fuck, I should have bought another bottle. I think the score could go lower, but it's powerful yet mature, approachable at 57.8%, and intense while being a lot more than just a peat bomb.

score: 91

update: has a somewhat overlapping profile with this Bowmore, but that empty glass smells like farmy peat, whereas this one smells like smoky fishy candy corn. weird.