Isle of Jura 10 Year Old

For two years+ I have been repeatedly periodically drinking out of my brother-in-law's bottle of Jura 10. For the first two years it seemed like one of the roughest and least pleasant whiskies I have encountered. Every few months I tried it over and over just to see whether I still thought that it was as bad as I had remembered. It was. Recently, a good two years after the bottle was open, it just completely mellowed out and opened up. It tastes great to me now, after repeated drams spaced out over additional weeks. If I bought a new bottle of it I would be prepared to leave the bottle open a long time before it would be ready for me. When you sample a whisky at a bar you usually have no idea when the bottle was opened, and whether you are getting an 'early-opened' or 'long-opened' taste of that whisky.

For the first two years I would have rated my sampled bottle at 60/100, now it would just about as you have rated it at 85/100.

Hi Victor thank you for your comments. Recently I have been leaving bottles open for at least an hour before tasting, and also pouring a glass and leaving for at least half an hour before sipping.... It's crossed my mind that this would be a strong case for decanting Whisky?

I have also left several bottles at my family home outside of London and there is a distinct difference in taste between half-full bottles left in country air (Laphroaig cask strength, HP 21, Talisker 10 yo) for a few months and bottles I have in central London ( a city) In any case I would highly recommend this Jura 10 yo.... perhaps though its flavors are emphasized by the sharply contrasting damp and unusual fresh autumn atmosphere we are experiencing and consequently good timing for tasting.

@victor

Interesting that you noted that. I am currently sipping a bottle that I bought at least 2 years ago at a bargain £17. When I first opened it I remember thinking 'Ah, that's why it's only £17', so I decided to decant it and use it as my 'display' whisky which I could cheerfully give to non-whisky drinking friends without feeling the pain of handing over a top quality SM (I'm an impoverished student!). Like you I would have rated it around 60 at the time.

The one I'm drinking now, however, is much more mellow and has a much nicer mouth feel whereas the previous one had a bit too much burn on it. I like the peppery finish but, for some reason, I can barely smell the stuff unless I put my nose a millimetre above it!

It doesn't blow my mind but I'd give it a good 73 or thereabouts.