Earlier this year, Jura Distillery, owned by Whyte & Mackay, totally revamped the core line up after replacing their Travel Retail offers last October (bye bye Turas Mara 😦 ).

So no more Origin (10 Year Old), Superstition, Diurach’s 16 Year Old and Prophecy. Instead we have a new line up consisting 5 new offers:

• Jura Journey – A no-age-statement offering, matured exclusively in American oak barrels
• Jura 10 Year Old – Already launched in US during 2017 and now globally
• Jura 12 Year Old – Finished in Oloroso Sherry casks after 12 years in American white casks
• Jura Seven Wood – A no-age-statement matured in seven types of French oak and first-fill ex-Bourbon barrels
• Jura 18 Year Old – finished in red wine casks after 18 years in American oak casks.

It’s not only that the expressions changed, the whisky itself is now using a combination of peated an unpeated spirit across the entire lineup. No more exclusively unpeated or peated Jura in the core line up. It’s quite a bold move, ain’t it so?

Obviously I was curious to see how did all those changes impacted the whiskies and taste them so let’s start with the entry level offering – Jura Journey. Like stated above, it’s a NAS offering (so probably lots of young spirit), and bottled at 40% and probably chill-filtered.

Jura ‘Journey’ (40%, £33/€32.70)

Nose: At first the soft peat smoke is strong but then it recedes to the background and the familiar Jura note of lactic vanilla rises up. There’s damp wood staves, smoked pears, nectarines and buttery apple toffee. After a few minutes more lactic and vanilla and slightly damp wood.

Palate: Somewhat thin, soft peat smoke, vanilla and soft fruitiness led by pears and a bit of green apples, oak spices and bitterness towards the end.

Finish: Medium length, gentle peat smoke, lingering oak spices bitterness, dryness, honey and bit of vanilla.

Thoughts: Jura Journey is exactly what it was intended to be – a simple and basic Jura. The bourbon casks are doing good job here imparting vanilla and fruitiness and the peat balanced it to a rounded expression. But new or old, this is still an unmistakable Jura whisky with the lactic vanilla and the wood notes (love it or hate it).