Jura is not one of my favorite distilleries. I got hugely turned off of them by some official 10 year old bottling from about a decade ago, and they’ve not been able to sway me back since.

I know they’re released some very old whiskies, which are supposedly incredible  The ones I’ve tasted were good, but not good enough to average out the shit from yonder year.

Also, the independent bottling that are around are either very expensive or heavily peated. Of the latter category there seems to be a lot, but for some reason I am always looking to be pleasantly surprised by a lightly peated or an unpeated one. You know, the style that is most of their core range.

Somehow, I though it was a good idea to buy a sample of this 21 year old a year ago or so (hence I assume it’s the 2016 release). Give it another try.

Image from WhiskyBase

Sniff:
There’s an incredible scent of malt on the nose. Secondly there’s a lot of oak. I’m guessing both sherry and bourbon casks (at the time of writing I didn’t check, but it turns out to be correct). Some baking spices and a bit of a funky scent as well. A very light chili heat.

Sip:
The palate is smooth, with a light spicy heat. Again, lots of malted barley. The slightly funky scent translated into a much more funky flavor. Slightly earthy with mushrooms and wet soil. Moldy even. Quite oaky too.

Swallow:
The finish is more oaky than the palate, and has a bit of a dunnage flavor. So, oak, wet soil, mold, mushrooms and cobwebs.

Weird! Well, not really, since this is the profile I expect from Jura, and it’s not something I actively dislike. In a lot of cases I actually quite like it. In this case, however, I don’t think the whisky is rich enough to carry it. It’s a bit of a thin whisky that tastes like it is something incredible, but watered down a bit too much. This surprises me since it’s still bottled at 44%. Not very high, but at least it’s not 40%…

This whisky hasn’t convinced me of the brand, but it’s quite a lot better than the ones that put me off (the old 1o year old and a bottling of Jura Earth, bottled for Feis Ile 2008).

83/100

Jura 21, 2006 release, 44%. No longer available.