If there is a "best" Talisker Single Malt, this one gets our vote.
Talisker distillery was founded in 1830 by Hugh and Kenneth MacAskil at Carbost on the the Isle of Skye. In all these years Talisker's distillation method has remained unchanged. In fact, when the entire distillery burnt to the ground in 1960 they rebuilt everything back to the original specs.
Talisker is owed by Diageo but is operated by United Distillers and Vintners and those guys do a good job keeping the mealy corporate hands off of the malt. Today, Talisker is the only distillery on the Isle of Skye — the coolest island name on the planet — creating a full range of island-style, medium-peated, Single Malt agings and finished-wood Whiskies.
Talisker 25 Year Old is an enigma — It’s VERY special because it’s not trying to be fancy. It follow the classic rules of fine malted grain, perfected distillation, and time in the barrel… LOTS of time in the barrel. This exceptional Single Malt is aged a full quarter century in a combination of new American oak and refill European oak casks on site where the beautiful Isle of Skye meets the sea.