Talisker Scotch Whisky

Talisker Whisky Distillery Information

Founded in 1830 by Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill

Location Island region Carbost on the isle of Skye

Water Source Springs on Cnoc nan Speireag (Hawk Hill)

Talisker Whisky Distillery Equipment.

Copper domed Stainless steel mash tun

6 Oregon pine washbacks

3 Low wine stills 2 Wash stills with u-shape Lyne arms

5 copper worm tub condensers

Matured in American oak bourbon casks with some European Oloroso sherry butts for double maturation.

Talisker Whisky Distillery History.

Talisker is the only distillery on the Isle of Skye, and takes its name from a farm near the village of Carbost.

Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill, from Eigg, built the distillery in 1830. Hugh was a senior tenant farmer, who leased land to others and had acquired the lease of Talisker House.

After the brothers' deaths the distillery ownership passed to the partnership of Roderick Kemp, a wine and spirits merchant and Grigor Allan the Procurator Fiscal of Morayshire, who introduced significant sums of money in rebuilding and refitting the distillery between 1880 and1887.

At the time the Talisker whisky had gained a reputation for itself. The famous Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson mentioned Talisker in a poem, 'The Scotsman's Return from Abroad' in 1880,

The king o' drinks, as I conceive it,

Talisker, Islay or Glenlivit.

In 1892, Roderick Kemp bought The Macallan distillery on Speyside. So sole ownership passed to Grigor Allan.

In 1898 Talisker was merged with Dailuaine to form the Dailuaine-Talisker Distilleries Ltd. This company invested heavily into the distillery by extending the premises at Talisker, They built a pier with a tramway to link it to the distillery and provided houses to accommodate the employees and excise officer.

In 1925 United Distillers acquired the distillery ownership. Three years later ceased triple distillation in preference of double distillation

The distillery was partly rebuilt in 1960 after a fire, In November 1960 a simple lapse of concentration led to the leaving open of a valve on the No. 1 spirit still, which was at the time coal-fired.

As the spirit in the still reached boiling point a disastrous spill over occurred allowing spirit to reach the flames below. The resulting fire burned down the stillroom. The distillery was rebuilt meticulously around exact copies of the old stills.

The distillery's floor maltings were demolished in 1972.

In 1988/89, United Distillers selected Talisker for their Classic Malts series.

Talisker Distillery Bottlings

Talisker 10 Year Old

Talisker 18 Year old

Talisker Aged 20 years

Talisker Aged 25 years

Talisker Distillers Edition Double Matured

Talisker 175th anniversary

Talisker Independent Bottlings  

Tactical Old Malt Cask (Douglas Laing)

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