Not only have I moved past my aversion to Jura, but I’ve fallen in love with it. Or rather with the idea of what a Jura could be if properly matured and respectfully bottled, but that I have yet to fully experience. Actually, I went ahead of myself and bought a 30yo Jura when I encountered a decent discount. I’ll gift it to myself on my upcoming 30th birthday. Also, as I returned from Tokyo I somehow found a 28yo Jura from by a local indie bottler in my luggage…
But have I bought the proverbial piggie in the poke? Is well-matured Jura from the 90s really as great as I’ve imagined it could be? I must really have been wondering, because returning from the Whisky Fair in Bad Homburg I had with me no less than four Jura samples, aged 24, 28, 30, and an 8yo bottled around 1980! Truth shall be known.
Jura 30yo (1991) Whisky Fair
Type: Scotch single malt
Alcohol: 43.6%
Cask info: bourbon barrel
Bottling info: single cask, bottled 2021 unchillfiltered and natural colour
Price and availability: €300 (Germany, 2023)
🔗WhiskyBase
Review sample bought at Whisky Fair Bad Homburg (€15 for 2cl)
Experience ⚡
A light and well-integrated spirit, dominated by tropical fruits and fine wood notes.
On the nose, tropical fruits race to the fore: papaya, underripe mangoes, apricots. Secondary impressions include sweet white wine, fresh pine wood, light oak spice, perhaps even a little wood glue. The palate is spicier and less sweet than I had anticipated, the texture quite light. Not sour, nor do tannins assert themselves. Flavourwise I find milk chocolate, banana, vanilla, oak spice.
Thoughts 💡
I do like this, especially the nose, but with such a light palate I’d need some more distinct flavours to be entirely satisfied.
Great Quality ⭐
Jura 28yo (1992) Liquid Treasures
Type: Scotch single malt
Alcohol: 49.7%
Cask info: barrel
Bottling info: unchillfiltered and natural colour
Price and availability: not available, estimated ~€300 at release
🔗WhiskyBase
Review sample bought at Whisky Fair Bad Homburg (€13.50 for 3cl)
Experience ⚡
Wonderfully complex and characterful, dense and savoury with herbal peat.
The nose is intense and complex: vinuous, woodsy, minerally, fruity. There is a cognac-like fragrancy, apple juice, pine resin, sour oak, walnuts, caramelized butter. Wonderfully characterful, almost confusing but not discordant. On the palate, all the fundamental tastes are there in exquisite balance. The savoury-salty-sweet drives the experience, with sour and bitter only providing highlights. Generously flavoured with buttered popcorn, mild tobacco, toasted walnuts, heather, and a medium-light herbal peat that blooms over a few seconds with every sip, subsiding into a finish that hits a sweet grapefruit note.
Thoughts 💡
After my first Jura tasting I went on a mission to find the perfect Jura. This could be it. It has the pine, walnuts, and herbal peat characteristic of Jura, and . Outstanding!
Great Quality ⭐
Personal Favourite ❤️
Jura 8yo “Pure Malt” (1970s)
Type: Scotch single malt
Alcohol: 40%
Bottling info: allegedly bottled around 1980
Price and availability: maybe around €200 at auction, probably €30 (today’s equivalent) in its time
🔗WhiskyBase (comparable batch)
Sample from Wisky Fair Bad Homburg (3cl for €7.50)
Experience ⚡
The nose is elegant, citrussy, and slightly minerally. There’s orange oil, canned peach, pumpernickel, a floral impression with subtle lavender and coriander seed, apple cider vinegar (but without the sharpness), a slightly buttery coconut note, and fresh mint. Sweet and oily on the palate, the flavours consistent with the nose, mostly accentuating the fruits. The finish is mostly on the side on the tongue with a malty impression. Overall, very soft and harmonious, but the sweetness becomes a bit sugary in the long run. No trace of peat or smoke whatsoever.
Thoughts 💡
How would this have tasted in 1980? It’s been in that bottle for over 40 years. I don’t know how it’s been stored, when it was finally opened, how long it’s been oxidizing. What I can say is that it tastes great still. It does have some perfumey and slightly dull quality that I’ve come to associate with yesteryear bottles, but does not venture into the sharp vinegar territory. It doesn’t tick the boxes on what I’ve come to know as Jura characteristics, being to sweet and neither piney nor herbally peaty.
Great Quality ⭐
Jura 24yo (1997) Murray McDavid
Type: Scotch single malt
Alcohol: 49.7%
Cask info: bourbon hogshead with finish in 1st fill port and PX sherry (vatting of two casks)
Bottling info: unchillfiltered and natural colour
Price and availability: €280 (Germany 2023), probably somewhat lower at release
🔗WhiskyBase
I bought the remainder of a bottle, ~10cl, for €15 at Whisky Fair Bad Homburg
Experience ⚡
Buttery-fruity, with stewed pears, orange peel, and coconut. Some dusty oak, dried grass and tobacco leaf as well. On the palate quite sweet and savoury, with a blooming herbal peat.
Thoughts 💡
Overall, there are many similarities with the 28yo from LT, but this one’s a bit too sweet and not as complex. By comparison it falls short but is nonetheless a good rendition of Jura. Were the cask finishes really necessary?
Great Quality ⭐
Overall, I’m really happy with this selection of Juras. The LT 28yo is as good as I can imagine a Jura to be, and among the best whiskies I’ve enjoyed in recent years. Can’t wait to see what I will get for my birthday present 😉
DuckDrams 
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