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Talisker
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Founded
1830
Region
Island
Status
Operational
Company
Production type
Single malt
Production capacity
3,300,000 litres per year
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For a long time Talisker was the sole distillery on Scotland’s iconic Isle of Skye, founded in 1830 by Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill and not joined on the island until the opening of Torabhaig in 2017. Talisker is renowned for the quality of its output and the distillery and it became so integral to the blends of the Distillers Company following its acquisition of it in 1916, that it has remained in the same ownership structure ever since.
Today it is part of the Diageo portfolio and the company has built it single malt brand up to be one of its best-selling while retaining a crucial requirement for its malt in blends such as Johnnie Walker.
Despite its importance to the blended Scotch brands within the Distillers Company organisation, examples of Talisker single malt can be found dating back to the 1920s. The modern iteration of the brand was introduced by The Distillers Agency, who released various 8- and 12-year-old age statements until the 1980s when John Walker & Sons took over the license and continued to do likewise. At the same time, Talisker was one of a handful of labels also licensed by Distillers Company (DCL) to Gordon & MacPhail, examples of which are instantly recognisable by their iconic black and red labels with DCL's eagle motif.
Supply for Gordon & MacPhail bottlings was stopped after 1988 however, when United Distillers made Talisker the island region representative in its Classic Malts of Scotland range. The brand was relaunched in the process and a new 10-year-old expression introduced.
Today the 10-year-old remains the flagship expression however in recent years the core range is much expanded. It is now joined by an 18- and 25-year-old, a Distillers Edition, and non-age statements called Skye and Storm. These are supported by a travel retail range and regular inclusions in limited release collections such as the Special Releases and Prima & Ultima.
Current owner
Talisker Distillery
Carbost
Isle of Skye
IV47 8SR
Scotland
Active brands
Single malt