Isle of Jura 18-year-old

Classic fruity / sweet profile. I wouldn't like to own a bottle (tasted only from a sample), but still it's a nice single malt from Jura.

Top price-performance ratio

Because it's not quite good enough for an 87 rating. Jura certainly isn't for everyone. The distillery's character is too specific for that. Vegetables! But this one is different, almost too mainstream, but delicious. The price is absolutely top-notch.

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It's certainly not one dimensional or boring and offers enough of a challenge.

Oddly enough, the 12-year-old release turned out to be more interesting than the 18-year-old

Flamenco Studio at Night This lovely whisky balanced carefully between sweet fruits and wood with garden floral accents. I initially tasted this malt blind and guessed it was a late-teens or early-twenties whisky with a big sherry finish. The even-keeled mouthfeel led me to suspect something around 46%; not the most complex whisky, but a competent and enjoyable one. I could imagine a glass of this disappearing unusually fast, and it felt well-suited for pairing with food or convivial conversation rather than standing as a tasting centerpiece. Imagine my surprise finding out it was the Jura 18! Overall, in my mind, Jura rightly gets critiqued for its over-emphasis on cask maturation tricks to create its flavor profiles, especially when they drift into the arena of gimmick— looking at you, Seven Wood! They have also displayed a remarkable propensity to cut their whisky to 40% or smooth out color differences with caramel coloring. I am still slightly annoyed that they discontinued their peatier Prophecy and Superstition releases, which were bottled at a beautiful 46% and 43%, respectively.

Nicely drinkable whisky, sufficiently soft with a sweet overtone that gives a slightly fresher undertone than the standard sherry finish.

Jura 18 YO Country of origin: Scotland Region: Isle of Jura Producer and bottler: Isle of Jura Distillery (Whyte and Mackay Group - Emperador Distillers Inc.) Category: Single Malt Strength: 44% Volume: 700 ml Date of bottling: 09.09.2020 Barrel type: Ex-Bourbon and Premier Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux red wine finish Min. exposure: 18 years Cold filtration: done Dye: present At first, only upon opening the bottle, as some reviewers have noted, here at Whiskybase, the whisky aroma does indeed have slightly off-putting, but very unusual, tones of liquorice, durian, soybeans, rancid linseed oil and slightly rotten fruit. However, as it oxidizes, this effect quickly dissipates and before us opens up in all its glory a picture of an obviously rich in aromatic colors of Scotch, testifying to a truly high-quality selection of casks. The ball is ruled by wine berry tones (slightly boiled strawberries, raspberries, cherries, black currants, chokeberries, blueberries, mulberries, red gooseberries), compote or mulled wine apples, pears and oranges, a little bit of “signature tropics” (dried bananas, mango, dates), nuances of sea salt and salted caramel or milk chocolate, nut cocktail, vanilla gum, spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg), while smoky notes are pushed into the background. The whisky tastes round, soft, with a liquid body, but reveals itself well with tones of salted caramel, milk chocolate, flax seeds and nuts, baked fruits, dried fruits, berries, burnt and spicy. Apparently due to the reduced strength and cold filtration, the taste seems far from as expressive as the aroma. The aftertaste is medium in length. Black berries, bitter spices, dark chocolate and coffee, charcoal. Summary. As always, Jura has produced an interesting whisky with rich organoleptic properties, albeit not without flaws, with good work from obviously good casks, with a signature signature in the form of notes of licorice, sea salt, caramel, soft smoke and tropical fruits in the profile, but with a slightly blurred, as if unbalanced taste. A wonderful rounded drinking whisky that will appeal to a wide range of consumers, but not pressed to the ideal, probably due to the owner company's desire to save money or for some other reasons, I don't know. Rating: 86 out of 100.

Wood, butterscotch, little smoke, vanilla

Aroma: medium intensity, cherry bark, black currant, old tree, dried fruit mix, exotic juice. In the development of fruit tree gum, dressed leather, just a little bit of vanilla and baking, minerality and salt appear. Taste: spicy, tannic, grape skin, dark berries, spices, berry jam, caramel sweetness. Finish: Woody tannins, dark berries, cinnamon, cloves, mineral-salty, buttery, longer than average. Score: 87 Bottom line: a lot of wood, dark berries, somehow rustic, but at the same time, the picture is bright broad strokes, the finish pleased.

A cool, dry, red-wine barrel-like finish based on the rather sad, classically heavy, fusel-smudged profile of Jura (feels like Cask Strands).

This is shocking on many counts. WTF has Jura done here. This was a sample off a neighbour. I am pleased I didn't buy it. This has to be a contender for worst sample and biggest Disapointment already.

Completely different. Strange. Light, meadow, hay, liquorice. The surprised. Very well.

I think some forget the price point of this bottle as an 18 year old in today's ridiculous price hike, this dram offers so much and I think is one of the kings of red wine maturation. Jura has a hard time as some core releases are frankly average at best buy this does carry the brand in my eyes. It's complex, sweet but it's not syrupy it's more rounded and gives an abundance of red fruits which fill your mouth and are carried by that subtle smoke to pull the most flavour into your taste buds. I personally think more drammers need to get this in front of them blind and really tear into all that wonderful flavour and bluntly at a very affordable price. Well done Jura.

After removing the lid, notes of aged cheeses, mushrooms, and wet leaves are heard. They are quite short-lived and are replaced by red berries, currants, sweet apples and honey. The taste is peppery and pungent, there is oak lacquerness, dried fruits, nuts, brown bread crusts and chocolate. Medium length finish.

fair puddle The finish is mau compared to nose and palate In general, the combination of law and wine barrel does not fit here

Dark amber color. Nose is even, in which berry wine notes stand out, there is a slight stench of a trash can (these notes were especially inherent in old releases), behind this, wood, vanilla, fruit, jam appear, and all this goes to ripe fruits, which are already starting to rot slightly, baking spices and cocoa beans are also noticeable. Taste is smooth, with a noticeable sourness, with hints of spices, berries, wood, vanilla and apples. Finish is long, opens with spices and hints of wood, moderately dry, with hints of berries and fruits. The whisky is very well balanced, interesting, powerful enough and characteristic. Just what you need when you want to sit and rummage in whisky. This whisky is definitely not for drinking in bottles, not outgoing, but just for the egoist. You can savor it, reveal the shades and midtones that reveal over time.

Nice nose with red fruits and spice. Caramel and a hint of sulfur with smoke for the taste. The finish is not that great.

18 years is an important wine for a distillery to show its style, but Jura made it like this, without any joy. A complete joke... but no one can laugh

The colour is dark amber. The nose is sweet and smooth with dried fruits, caramel, spices, plum, sweet fruits, berries jam, perfume and light smoke notes. The palate is also smooth and sweet with dried fruits, vegetables, chocolate and spices notes. The finish is long and dry with spices, vanilla, chocolate and grass notes. Jura 18YO is a well balanced, smooth and tasty whisky.

A good example of why Jura is not one of the most popular distilleries.

Very liquid, copper color. Light oily.

Fruit compote, sweet, slightly tart finish, settled, nice as a digestif

https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2025/05/11/whiskylive-2025-day-2-part-1-2/ C: I feel there’s less whine about wine these days? I muse that we’ve either got used to, resigned ourselves to, or found a penchant for it. The use of wine casks with this 18yo Jura works well to my mind, much like Glen Moray’s peated Rioja cask [WLP]. Peat, or is it char[?] – the distillate in those casks makes for a long reach. Bravo, and well priced, coming in around £70 or under. As before [WLP]

It’s proper 18 yo whisky but I am missing some depth. Looks like the barrels could be low quality as whisky is flat, not too oily, not too complex. All in all it is pleasant whisky but does not make the 18 yo benchmark for me. And with Jura I am never sure if it is the whisky or general bad marketing if the brand…

Dark fruits, leather, raisins. Sweet and oaky. Plums and pomegranate. Quite light overall

https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2023/06/04/salut-mr-foster/ C: I’ve never tried Jura 18 either. Nonplussed over the Aberfeldy, this Jura is more up my street, much to my surprise. With all-round weight, texture, flavour, and appeal, at +/-£70 it’s surely one of the most affordable 18yo’s around. Simply put, a comforting aged dram at a fair price.

Why you need to be careful about ex-wine casks

Tasted from an opened bottle that still has about 500ml of liquid left. In my opinion, it's better than its reputation. Interesting aromas on the nose, which unfortunately are only partially reflected on the tongue. The whisky has some weaknesses on the finish and is a bit too bitter for me personally.

Got a sample of this dram from the Jura Ambassador, Toon de Gier. First time for a well aged Jura.

The wine aromas suit him very well

Nice whisky, mild on the nose but with minerally and punchy palate. Finish is rather short but pleasant. This expression from Jura shows good balance with obvious coastal character. A bit too oaky on my taste.

Classy whisky, warm, enveloping, with excellent balance and depth. One of the best representatives of modern 18-year-old whisky.

Aroma: The alcohol scent is very pronounced, along with a sour note, not the sourness of grapes, but more like sauerkraut. It has a chocolate toffee feel, with the sweet, cloying sugar flavor gradually becoming more prominent. This aroma feels strangely familiar—ah, similar to Gold Label. Tasting notes: A slight sip, sweet, oaky, then watery. Guys, this is what you call real water—meaning it tastes like plain water. Downing 10ml in one gulp: Hmm, okay, it's really mild. I can roughly understand "full body"—apple, honey, plum, syrup, smoky, oaky bitterness, it has it all. But everything is very mild, a bit mixed. There's hardly any alcohol; it tastes like soup. Overall: Is this thing trying to compete with those mainstream brands for the market share of casual drinkers? Anyway, it's worth a try for newcomers who don't drink much hard liquor. Notes date: 20211220 Reference price (based on rating): CNY 450

A 2nd go at this, after a brief taste at the Whisky Live last year, which have caught my taste bud with the expressive characters. N- Sweet smokes of cigar, zing of savoury spices and mineral with berries liquorice at tail. Thick sphere of leather with walnut underlay. (87/21) P- Spicy, bold, inky, charred oak, burnt caramel, spent matches with more tobacco coming thru. Sure a colourful one on palate, amicably chatty with plenty to unveil overtimes. (91/22) F- Medium-long, smooth and velvet, sunk in perfectly with fine weighty and calmed relaxing leather hues and berries. (90/22) Body/Balance- 88/22 Weighted Rate- 87pt — at The Whisky Bar, Kuala Lumpur.

Very disappointed, smell is closed and taste mildly honey. No complexity

Unfortunately, the whisky is nothing. So far I had the Jura Loch and a 30-year-old original bottling. Both were significantly better, if not outstanding. N- very flat, little aroma. Some red fruit jelly, a little sour. Unfortunately nothing else happens. Even after several minutes of waiting a rather flat dram. M- the highlight is a slightly ashy taste on the palate, some tobacco, bitter at the back with a 20-second finish. It's like so often with law. It lacks a little profile, especially for an island whisky. Not such a good dram!

Raspberries, strawberry, forest fruits, vanilla cream, citrus ice cream, wood, some spices, toffee, nicely structured, pleasant finish.

Aroma: opens with grassy notes of dry hay followed by something vaguely reminiscent of seaweed along with a slight saltiness. In between, the tone becomes drier and soon almost sour before hard-to-define dark fruits appear. A note of chocolate, maybe even cocoa follows. Faint peat smoke in the background. None of this stands out - which makes the scent slightly muddy and leaves a rather flat and anonymous impression. Taste: of slightly sweet and sour and mild cocoa together with dark fruits. Pretty soon the cocoa and fruits transition into a sweeter tone of O'boy chocolate milk! In the finish, the tart, slightly vinous notes take over and blend quite well with a veil of muted peat rumble and in the background, along with more cocoa - a slightly bitter note. The taste picks up something of the aroma that was missing and it is clearly pleasant and definitely easy to drink.

S 7 Such a cigar malt. Suitable to drink in an armchair facing the fire piece in winter. No roller-coasters, just a steady stream of flavours flowing through the palate. Lack the strength tho. [78-82] I'll gladly welcome another dram. N 25 Dark fruits (plum, blueberry, blackcurrant) and wood. Blackberry jam. Soggy hay. A whiff of honey at the back. P 24 Toasted oak. Ashy. Now the fruits returned (plum skin). Malty. Mild baking spices. Plenty of oak & tannin bitterness at the back. F 25 Short-mid finish. Dark chocolate with dried fruit chunks.

Edit: I seem to have missed the fact this was finished in red wine casks, but to me these still gave the impression of a syrupy sweet shery cask for some reason, yes it was a bit more tannic than your usual sherry cask (from what i can recall), but still nothing special. I'm not a wine drinker so it's kind of hard to tell when the wine influence is too subtle. Tried at a tasting. Mediocre modern syrupy sweet sherried scotch, nothing else. Not bad though, still drinkable, just disappointing for its age. A bit more smoke wouldve made it more interesting.

2022-07-21 2022-07-25: 81 -> 82