When the Isle of Jura’s sole eponymous distillery chose the name for its signature, single-malt whisky, they wanted it to “(tell) of a passion rekindled, a distillery reborn.” They’re presumably referring to 1963, when the distillery was re-founded, and they settled on “Origin,” which the box says is the 10-year-old whisky “that started the Jura journey.”
Previously the foundation of the “reborn” distillery’s brand – the Islay-adjacent Jura distillery first opened in 1810, closed in 1901, was rebuilt in the 1950s and reopened in 1963 – an apparent re-branding effort seems to have set Jura on a path that no longer includes Origin. Neither Origin nor the other Jura expressions of Prophecy and Superstition are mentioned anymore on Jura’s website; all apparently replaced a single Jura 10-year-old, which you can read more about in an upcoming review.
Yet even under the old brand that included Origin, Jura gave out little information about the process they use to create it, as a trip in the Wayback Machine shows. Nevertheless, the archived website indicates Origin was aged for 10 years in ex bourbon casks. Of Jura’s old primary quartet of whiskies placed on a four-corner scale of peated versus unpeated and heavy versus delicate, Origin sits on the lighter side of both.
If you’re looking for any remaining bottles at your store, look for the box emblazoned with a triskele – a triple spiral that actually fits into Celtic tradition, as opposed to the Egyptian hieroglyph-like symbols on other bottles. Jura previously indicated that the triskele is the Celtic symbol for birth and beginnings. History aside, I’ve preferred to see the symbol as representing the cyclical nature of the world, which seems fitting as Origin apparently enters its waning days.
Tasting Notes: Jura Origin
Vital stats: Single malt aged 10 years in bourbon barrels and bottled at 43 percent alcohol by volume. A 750-milliliter bottles runs somewhere between $30 and $42 depending on the online retailer.
Appearance: Golden amber, pretty middle of the road for a whisky.
Nose: Hits the nose with a moderately abrupt blast of spicy citrus dominated by oak, cloves, and allspice, with notes of lemon and oats, and evened out by a touch of honey. That gradually transitions into a sweeter, mellower mix in which honey and slightly tart green apples are the primary flavors – almost pushing into sauvignon blanc territory – with a touch of the aforementioned spices and faint floral notes.
Palate: Flows onto the tongue like honey, in a way that is both exceptionally sweet and with surprisingly viscous texture that quickly the coats the tongue (I typically get that feeling more toward the finish). That quickly takes on an increasingly intense spicy flavor, leading most prominently with nutmeg this time along with touches of the previously mentioned allspice and cloves. That spiciness builds for a few seconds to relatively intense level, wavers a bit, and then takes on a flare of renewed intensity upon swallowing. That spiciness lingers throughout the mouth for a while, especially at the back and roof of the mouth, and fades to a warm tingling and then to a warm honeyed sweetness.
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