Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2010

Liechtenstein Telser

Telsington (94/100 Points) 

n23 rarely are Pinot Noirs particularly salty. And never, in my experience, smoky. Yet salt and light iodine abound in a seaweed coastal romp. The fruity does turn up, but only once the nose has accustomed itself to the massive onslaught it has faced. Welcome to whisky from Liechtenstein... and it has not arrived quietly... 

t23.5 the tastebuds are immediately enveloped in the sot slinky of fruity gloves - and yet at the same time a fruit rock-hard one... Pinot at play..!! To complicate matters, the vague smokiness drifts around, landing feeble slaps and punches. And on another layer altogether a juicier barley note abounds: what a delight... 

f23.5 although a certain bitterness from the oak comes into play, it is supremely controlled by the deft fruit and barley which play a similar tune to earlier, except now moor softly 

b24 now here's a conundrum if not irony. The first ever whisky from probably the most land-locked country in the whole of Europe, and it has the aroma of a rock pool found on a Hebridean island of about the same, tiny size. As for the whisky? What can I say? The last time I stayed in this beautiful, idiosyncratic country I had no option other than to spend the night in the worst hotel I have encountered in the western world. Thankfully the new distillery does not perform to such pitfall standards. 

This is not just good whisky, it is outstanding: far, far better than it has any right to be at first attempt. Obviously a fourth visit to Vaduz is now called for: this whisky is worth another night of misery and rudeness. I seriously need to shake the hand of the distiller...this is the most entertainingly delicious whisky I have tasted from mainland Europe this year.

Score Chart:

00-50 – Nothing short of absolutely diabolical

51-64 – Nasty and well worth avoiding

65-69 – Very unimpressive indeed

70-74 – Usually drinkable but don’t expect the earth to move

75-79 – Average and usually pleasant though sometimes flawed.

80-84 – Good whisky worth trying

85-89 – Very good to excellent whiskies definitely worth buying.

90-93 – Brilliant.

94-97 – Superstar whiskies that give us all a reason to live

98-100 – Better than anything I’ve ever tasted.

Key to Abbreviations and Symbols:

% Percentage strength of whisky measured as alcohol by volume.

b – Overall balance and complexity

bott – Date of bottling

db – Distillery bottling. In other words, an expression brought out by the owner of the distillery.

dist– Date of distillation or spirit first put into cask.

f – Finish

n – Nose

nc – Non coloured

ncf – Non chill-filtered

sc – Single cask

t – Taste