“A Pair of 21 Year Old whiskies shaped by time, eroded by tide.”
Jura has released two permenant additions to it’s range, a pair of 21yo whiskies; both are non-chillfiltered, just how we like them. ‘Tide’ should be available at your usual specialist whisky retailer, where as ‘Time’ is travel retail only (i.e. airports). What are the differences? Let’s take a look at them…
Jura One And All (20yo) – 51% abvInfo: Limited edition to celebrate the island and it’s islanders, it’s also been chosen by them as well. It’s matured in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels and prepared with Jura aged in sherry wood, sparkling Cabernet Franc casks, Cabernet Sauvignon casks and Pinot Noir barriques. Non-chill filtered and natural colour. 5,000 bottles worldwide.
Colour: Rich, autumnal reddy tints.
Nose: Quite strong, a good spirit hit which is sweetly spiced, with a slightly earthy note coming through behind.
Palate: Lovely, thick and oily; it’s easily accessible at the higher strength without burning your tongue. Gently sweet,and nicely aged, a slight herbal backnote under all the rich fruity flavours.
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Jura Tastival 2017 – 51% abvInfo: Made using whiskies finished in American oak bourbon barrels and Douro Valley Port pipes from Graham’s. Natural cask strength, no chill-filtration.
Colour: Summer rich golden with slight orange pink tints.
Nose: Rich and pungent; more autumnal than I had expected, packed with rich red port fruits, hints of cracked nuts, lashings of cream and a hint of chocolate.
Palate: Thick and creamy, with spices gently building into very warming peppery tones, backed up by the fruit, (hazel) nuts and cream found on the nose. Hints of damp dunnage.
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Isle of Jura 21 Year Old – 44% abvInfo: Previously discontinued in 2009, but now it’s back for the distillery’s 200th anniversary. Fully matured in ex-Bourbon casks then finished in vintage 1963 oloroso sherry casks. 44% abv.
Colour: Fairly dark orangey gold, rusty.
Nose: Damp pencil shavings, nuts, blood oranges and marmalade. Older dunnage warehouse type notes.
Palate: Smooth and old, with pinches of spices to keep it interesting. Gently sweet with those old autumn stewed fruit notes, berries that have just started to go by their summer fresh best (in a good way). A good integrated oak note that gives everything a nice base.
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Jura Tastival – Feis Ile 2016 Release – 51% abvUpdate: 12,000 bottles were released worldwide. Finished in Palomino Fino, Amoroso Oloroso and Apostoles Oloroso Sherry casks.
Info: The following information is rumored, unverified and not confirmed by Jura… Combining Jura 19 year old seasoned for 5 years in an 11 year old Palomino Fino sherry cask, Jura 14 year old seasoned for 4 years in a 15 year old Oloroso Amoroso sherry cask, and Jura 15 year old seasoned for 3 years in a 30 year old Oloroso Apostoles sherry cask. Released for Feis Ile 2016.
Colour: Rich golden, gentle orangey tints.
Nose: Malty and sweet, packed with punchy, rich sherry fruit flavours, yet undeniably still Jura underneath. There’s cream and vanilla notes along side more regular nutty tones you find in sherried whiskies.
Palate: Nice and thick and rich with oils, some spices for sure, in fact at first it’s quite hot with the high abv. There’s baked apples with brown sugar, less creaminess on the palate than on the nose.
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Info: Distilled in 1997 and bottled in 2015, i.e. 18 years old. Matured in sparkling wine casks sourced from the House of Bouvet Ladubay in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France, and bottled at cask strength. Natural colour, non chill-filtered. 52% abv. 3970 bottles.
Colour: A medium to full gold with hints of orange.
Nose: Light and oaky, sweet and fruity. Sweet stewed early autumn apples with a dollop of vanilla custard, redcurrants on top. Undertones of satsumas. Hints of milk chocolate and toffee (Cadbury Eclairs). Lots of great flavours, give it some time and keep on nosing it, it gets better and better.
Palate: Nice and thick on the palate, fairly oily. At first really easy with spices slowly building. The toffee chocolate notes are at the fore, maybe because of the thickness. Behind is the stewed fruits and oaks with Jura character underlying it all.
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Jura ‘The Standing Stone’ 30yo – 44%
Dark gold in colour, is there any caramel colour added? I seriously hope not for a £350 bottle… Therefore I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and say that the rich dark golden colour mostly comes from a three year finish in Oloroso Sherry butts from Gonzalez Byass.
The nose is exciting, there’s good hints of Jura distillery character but beefed up with spiced apple and pair tones along with the mixed autumn fruits of the sherry finish along with melon and figs.
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Jura 1977 – 46%
Light golden orange in colour. This was originally matured in three first fill bourbon casks before being finished in a ruby port pipe for 12 months.
The initial smell is not quite so in your face Jura as younger house expressions can be, which is a nice start to this old man of a whisky. There are plenty of good oak notes here backed up by sweet vanillary back notes.
On the palate the Jura character shows its head more, and the woody notes, although present, don’t appear as strongly as the nose may suggest, in fact they’re perfectly balanced. The mouth feel is full and oily, and the palate is extremely smooth.
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