Spirits · Carbost, Isle of Skye
Talisker Distillery
Peppery, maritime single malt from the shore of Skye.
- Founded
- 1830
- Founded by
- Hugh MacAskill, Kenneth MacAskill
- Based in
- Carbost, Isle of Skye
Making it since
1830
Their story
Talisker sits in the village of Carbost on the Minginish Peninsula, on the rugged west side of the Isle of Skye. Brothers Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill founded it in 1830, leasing the land from the MacLeods, and it began distilling the following year.
The distillery has survived a lot. It was rebuilt in the 1880s, came under the Distillers Company in 1925, and burned down in 1960, when it was reconstructed with exact copies of the original stills. Today it belongs to Diageo and is the only working distillery on Skye.
How it's made
Talisker uses medium-peated malt and water from springs on the hill above the distillery, which runs over peat. Five stills, two for wash and three for spirit, feed into old-style worm tubs instead of modern condensers, a setup believed to give a fuller, richer spirit. Unusual swan-neck lye pipes send some vapor back for a second pass.
Why we carry them
We reach for Talisker when someone wants to taste the sea in a glass. Its smoke and pepper make it a great step into island whisky.
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