In 1830, the MacAskill brothers set out from the tiny Hebridean island of Eigg and rowed to Skye. They disembarked onto dry land at 57 degrees latitude – which explains why an earlier edition of Talisker was called 57° North – and founded the Talisker distillery where they came onshore. By the end of the 19th century, having navigated a few bankruptcies and changes of ownership, Talisker had become one of the best-selling – and most celebrated – malt whiskies in the United Kingdom. In his poem “The Scotsman’s Return From Abroad”, author Robert Louis Stevenson dubbed Talisker the “King of Drinks”, which helped propel it to the extraordinary popularity that continues to this day. In 1960, a fire broke out at the distillery, but even that couldn’t halt its onward march. The building was completely rebuilt and restored to its original condition two years later.

Skye, where Talisker hails from, is rugged, windswept and a place of extremes. The whisky is the absolute embodiment of the place it calls home. It is renowned for its smoky sweetness, yet it combines this with surprisingly sophisticated notes of black pepper and a beautifully mellow finish. It’s these contrasts that make Talisker sublime.