Review by: zSolaris
Distillery: Jura.
Bottler: Sansibar Whisky.
Region: Island.
Age: 30 Year. Distilled in 1990 and bottled in 2020.
ABV: 46.5%.
Cask Type: Sherry Cask.
Cask Number: 5297.
Price: $18 / oz.
Color: 0.4, Jonquil/Ripe corn.
Nose: Overall it is quite refreshing with a lot of bright and fresh notes. Orange oil, tea tree oil, eucalyptus, crisp green grapes, and a very dry white wine are the major notes here.
Palate: It starts a touch bitter with orange rinds being the main note. Then things start to get super chaotic with lots of seemingly competing flavors all whizzing by. There are flashes of white wine, earth, mushrooms, something industrial (think greasy machine shop air), and something between a crème pâtissière and the mascarpone based mixture that goes into tiramisu come through. Adding some water doesn’t really change a whole lot.
Finish: The finish is insanely long, might be one of the longest I have had. It starts sharp and fruity with citrus notes. It turns into a slightly earthy funk before taking a detour over to some creamy sherry and ending up back with an earthy / green note. The tea tree oil note comes again at the end as well.
Conclusion: As much of a reputation as Jura has, the general consensus always seems to be that independent bottlings of it fare better than the official ones. This Sansibar is only the second IB Jura I’ve had and it is quite out there. Blind, I might have guessed it was a Loch Lomond bottling. While the nose is nice and cohesive with a very lovely refreshing set of notes, that is just a calm before the storm. The palate and finish are absolutely chaotic with notes in all directions, very similar to the Single Cask Nation Inchfad. The notes individually are generally quite nice, particularly that crème pâtissière one in the palate, but the package doesn’t seem like it should work and yet it somehow does for me. It isn’t a dram I’d happily pour daily, but it definitely would be something I’d enjoy having in the collection for whenever I wanted something to really dig into. Not bad!
Final Score: 84.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 
