Ah, the infamous Isle of Jura distillery. On the island of ‘one’. One road, one town, one way there, one hotel, one distillery, one million deer.

I was there in 2018. We were on the street across from the distillery and didn’t go in. All of us don’t care for Jura’s whiskies, and we had a ferry to Islay to catch. So, we just snapped a picture and went on our merry way.

This bottle did end up in my collection, for a ‘StayTheFuckHome’ tasting during the pandemic, and I had to get through a bit more after that. Of course, not many people bought a sample of this one, since it’s not a great whisky (spoiler…).

However, is it actually that bad?

Sniff:
It might be ‘because it’s Jura’, but I have the idea I sniff out a rubber band or two in the background. Otherwise it’s pretty straight forward with barley, oak. Some apple sauce and matches too.

Sip:
It takes a while to get going, but the palate is very dry, with sawdust and straw. Hints of apple and now the texture of rubber bands. Notes of barley husks too.

Swallow:
The finish is surprisingly fruity, apples, pears, some strawberry even. A bit short, with mostly dry oaky notes that linger.

Honestly, based on the whiskies of Jura Distillery I’ve had in the past, this one punches above expectations. Currently Jura is having a bit of a surge in popularity based on all the supposedly awesome 30-year-old whiskies coming out from a little before this one was distilled. Unfortunately, I’ve not had any of these yet.

However, this bottle is a bit on the boring side, with there mainly being oak and barley. The rubber band note on the nose doesn’t help it either. But, after all is said and done, it’s a rather drinkable whisky that I didn’t find too offensive at all. I actually quite enjoyed it. Maybe because my expectations were so low?

82/100