Highland Park is a frustrating malt to me as it can be so good, but then again many times seems to fail miserably on my palate. Middle good Highland Parks on the other hand I rarely come across. The ones I'm about to try in this session I have high expectations to, perhaps too high? Time will tell. But what I do know is that one of the most underestimated IB series that's still to be found in shops around nowadays, are the old Cask-series from Gordon & Macphail, under which three of these malts have been bottled.
Highland Park 25yo 1970-1995 40% Gordon & Macphail Centenary Reserve
The second oldest in this session, a decent looking miniature with old prints of the workers of distillery from bygone days. I think most of the centenary reserve series are sold out as most distilleries nowadays are past their first centenary or there's a bit of waiting for it. I'm not sure what's the deal here, 40%, no cask mention, different age statements, so it seems they've just bottled a "random" cask at the year of the centenary. And that's all I know and don't know, let's taste! The nose shows rustic hints of oloroso sherry and dry red wine. Sweet and dry, but pretty pungent and heavy, apple vinegar? Old stuff, needs time. The taste is sherried and oaky, much heavier than whats usually expected from 40%abv. The sherry, raisins and roasted almond notes works perfectly but there seems to be a bit much wood influence. Let's add water. Not much as there aren't much alcohol in this one. Water gives way to more oloroso sweetness. I wonder how this would've been if it was bottled at cask strength, oaky sure, but what a sherry influence.
Rich, sweet, just a bit too oaky to reach a top score from me: 7.5
Highland Park 13yo 1982-1995 56.8% Gordon & Macphail Cask cask#791,792,793,794,795
This one then, copper brown colored, smells of sweet coriander, honey and again this smooth oloroso. dark chocolate, caramelized roasted almonds. A real beauty so far. The taste has a burst of sweetness initially, honey and cinnamon before it turns peaty. Major peat influenced compared to most other Highland Parks I've tried. I didn't know they used peat at HP back then? I know far too little about this distillery, which of course is a shame. I think this is what a peaty oloroso sherry-matured whisky should be all about, firm sherry roundness and sweetness at first, no sign of peat yet. Then a real burst of heavy peat, not too long, not too overpowering, just enough to make a clear contrast to the initial palate.
A fantastic peat- and sherrybomb that also swims very well: 8
Highland Park 9yo 1983-1992 59.7% Gordon & Macphail Cask cask#1556
Younger, darker and a bit stronger than the 1982, and from one single cask. I'm always happy to see IB's bottle young cask strengths as it shows they dare not speculate on the growing customers demand for older whiskies, but bottle it in its prime. Nowadays at least, remember this one was bottled almost 20 years ago, surely the market were a bit different back then. At least for the independent bottlers. It is much darker than the 1982, but it smells pretty much the same, a bit more phenolic, and maybe dryer, if you know what I mean, dry smell? Yes, this one is definitively phenolic, but in a good way, honey, mustard, cinnamon, ashes, malt syrup, waxy, and extremely pungent. This is a tastebomb, and I do like my whisky with charisma. The aftertaste is again peaty, a bit longer with some herbal notes, but mostly its peaty all the way.
Great whisky, best of this session so far: 9
Highland Park 32yo 1959-1991 57.6% Gordon & Macphail Cask cask#598
This is the oldest Highland Park I've ever tasted no matter how you look at it, and a nice way to end an amazing session. There seems to be a bit of cask sediments in this one, but I guess they didn't filter their whisky back then, or did they? I'm way off here, whisky history pre 1960 seems to deal with geography and distillation more than the smaller things such as filtration? Either way, lighter in color than both the 1982 and 1983, and even the 1970. Smells light, honey, cloves, garlic (in a good way) and minty cream. Needs time to rest a while before tasting. The taste is minty, spicy, honey, nutmeg, vanilla, cream candy like werther's, cream cheese, almonds, nutty, wonderful display of aromas. If there were anything to critic here it'd had to be the lack of a solid finish, but on the other hand I've just finished two sherry and peat-bombs so no wonder my tastebuds might be a bit numb. All in all a fantastic whisky, there aren't many of these, it seems so vibrant after 32 years, an age that within the whiskies of today I often find to be far too oaky. This has all the good stuff of 32 years in cask, but lacks the possible over-oaky notes.
I really, really, really wish I had a 70cl bottle of this one: 9.5
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar