Jura 20 Year One and All
Whisky : Jura 20 Year One and All
Country/Region : Scotland/Islands
ABV : 51%
Cask : Ex-Bourbon, Sherry, Cabernet Wine, Pinot Noir Casks
Nose : Beeswax in a damp salty cheese cave. Peanut or honey almond butter, Chinese boiled peanuts, and a bit of almond oil provide a faintly herbal nuttiness. Salted fish, faint antiseptic notes, and rich woodiness come and go. The wife reckoned it more like sweet creamy coffee liqueur.
Palate : Sweet sun dried tamarind, dried persimmons and apricots, grassy heather, and buttermilk. There is a lot going on in the glass but it is not always cohesive. Yogurt, cottage cheese, pond scum, and dashes of all spice and sage— I do not know what we are cooking. It has a nice oily body that leaves behind a mild astringency.
Finish : Lingering black pepper, licorice, a bit of old pastry, and an old red rubber boot. The wife offered only a frown.
Score : 4
Mental Image : Tamarind pod stuck to a rubber slipper.
Something Better : Jura Superstition (similar tamarind, more maritime/citrus, less cream/grass)
Something Better : Ardbeg An Oa (similar rubber but with a pleasant waxiness, richer, more sweet-salty)
Something Similar : Loch Lomond 22Y; DL’s OP (similar coffee liqueur, more butter/pastry)
Notes : This seems like a love it or hate it dram. The wife clearly wanted nothing to do with it. I had more mixed feelings— it was almost one of those drams that just so weird and so almost good that you want to keep drinking. It was like one of those foods you find a little unappetizing, but you cannot stop eating for some reason— not until you know for sure if its delicious or gross.
I will not pretend to be a huge fan of Jura— though I did in fact really enjoy the now discontinued heavily peated Prophecy and medium peated Superstition (enough that I ran out to go buy a bottle after trying it). This dram is definitely more complex than those others, but I am not sure I like the complexity. There are hints of the maritime funky fish notes I really enjoy in Superstition, but on the whole, this one became a little too sweet the more I drank it. There were fruity notes that clashed with some of earthier ones and the whole things ended up with unfortunate bits of off-milk and rubber boot. Comparing the One and All against the Superstition and Prophecy in a side by side this one still felt like the weakest.
