Talisker 1979 Moon Import / Crest Label

Moon Import was founded by Pepi Mongiardino in 1980 and he bottled his first whisky in 1982. Always beautifully labelled, Pepi is acclaimed for designing the packaging for Moon Import bottles himself, often using images found in old books. These iconic designs, coupled with the quality of the liquid saw Moon Import steadily grow in popularity. The company is still going strong, and their early releases are some of the brightest gems in any whisky collection.

This 1979 vintage Talisker was bottled in 1994 as part of the short Crest Label run, which also features a Caol Ila and what is believed to be the only 1962 vintage Bowmore ever bottled.

For a long time, Talisker was the sole distillery on Scotland’s iconic Isle of Skye. Renowned for the quality of its output, the distillery has rarely changed hands, joining DCL (now Diageo) back in 1916. Despite this, releases were not the most common. An 8 year old was bottled officially and Gordon & MacPhail produced what are now classic and sought after vintage bottlings under official license from the distillery. When a 10 year old expression became a founding pillar of United Distillers’ Classic Malts range, the popularity of the distillery exploded, and it is now one of the most revered and exported in Scotland. As such, independent bottlings like this are scarce, and particularly sought after when they appear.