Jura 1966 (Cadenhead dumpy)

Isle of Jura distilled March 1966 and bottled March 1984. It’s 18 years old.

This is one of the old dumpy Cadenhead bottles with black label. I’m always surprised when I see the typography of these labels, the distillery names tend to be set in funky (sometimes cheapo) fonts that are so typical of the 1980’s. As if someone at Cadenhead’s bought one of these cd-roms with 50.000 “professional” fonts.

Jura 18 yo 1966 (46%, Cadenhead 1984, dumpy brown bottle, 75 cl)

Nose: a highly mentholated profile with quite some sappy notes. Hints of metal polish and huge tobacco notes. Dried flowers and old books. Becomes slightly fruitier after a while (a nice, warm fruitiness) but it’s really shy and it stays pretty much on the greasy, leathery and metallic side. Hints of heather and walnuts.

Mouth: earthy and herbal, with maritime notes, salty liquorice, walnuts and some medicinal touches. Medium peat. Hardly any fruits now. Resinous notes, different oils and wax.

Finish: long, with lingering phenols, walnuts and a salted, mouthwatering end.

This is an austere Jura, which misses some of the great tropical fruits of other 1960’s expressions and focuses on rougher notes. A really nice example of the Islay-esk side of this distillery. Rarely seen in auctions.

Score: 91/100