The last Highland Park session was a cracker with only G&M-bottlings scoring about 8.5 in average, and especially the ones from the old Cask-series stood out. Now let's see what some other IB's and one OB for "Master of Malt"(I don't think they bottle themselves) can bring to the table.
At least, if this goes as planned, and I hope so, I won't have to reconsider Highland Park again anytime soon, as its now once again shining as one of my favorites.
Highland Park 22yo 1987-2009 43% Signatory Vintage
A very light colored Highland Park, as are all the ones I'm about to try in this vertical. I have always felt HP did best when there were at least some sweet sherry wood involved, but let's see. It smells sweet, eucalyptus, heather and vanilla, newspapers, needs time. Opens up more and more as it minutes goes by. But it also gets more subtle, strange. The taste is amazing, maybe one of the smokiest HP's I've tried, lots of vanilla, smoke, peat, ashes, herbal, lots of dried herbs like coriander, mint and basils. This is almost like smelling the scent of a finer society lady before going down to find she got the biggest balls of all. Extraordinary to say the least, and my rather sick comparison aside, it's a nice and powerful whisky. It could use some water, let's see. Now it got more of the usual honey-flavor that I often find in HP's but also some wax, reminds me a bit of Clynelish.
A thunderbolt Islander: 6
Highland Park 16yo 1989-2005 46% Cask & Thistle
I cannot recall ever trying a Cask & Thistle bottling before, so why not start with a Highland Park? This one is very pale in color, similar to a youngster. A rounder and lighter smell on this one, freshly washed linens and creme fraiche. Sort of fat and fresh, hard to describe, oily perhaps. The taste is burnt and peated, more of a coastal character. Almost like a caol Ila, or even a Laphroaig just less iodine. It needs water as it comes of a bit monotonous. There are some greens and some herbal notes here yet, but the water makes it lots sweeter and much more bitter. Lime juice and sugar, Caipirinha anyone?
A playful whisky that swims extremely well: 6.5
Highland Park 14yo 1995-2009 46% Murray McDavid Mission
This one is from a refill sherry cask, a light pink hue on it. Looks like some rosé wine. It smells much lighter that the 22yo and 16yo. Maybe the sherry cask has killed a bit of the initial flavors? Even when given time it is a lot lighter than I'd expect from anything above 20%abv. Theres some rubber and onion to be found. The taste is more in the lines of a dry vermouth than a sherry, at least a sweet sherry. Fino refill? Is it good? Maybe if you are into the cask experimentations going on at Bruichladdich a while back. I remember they could be very good, but far too often winded up a bit of a mismatch together with the peatiness of the malt. I have to give this a thumb down, but I'm sure there are someone that'll love it out there.
The prior Bourbon-matured ones were way better, unexpected: 2
Highland Park 13yo 57% Master of Malt
One bottled for (or by) online retailer Master of Malt. A nice online shop, a bit pricey but with an excellent selection. This one is as pale as white wine. I have had a Highland Park bottled at 100 proof from G&M in the past, and from what I can remember, it was a very good dram. It smells peaty and rubber boots, a bit waxy and salty, I can already tell this is going to needs some water. The initial taste is burnt and sweet, toasted chillies and gorgonzola bacterials. Water brings it down a bit, and now its quite similar to the 16yo from C&T. All in all, the quality of the malt does most of the talking here. And it is a very good malt, much more peated than older versions.
A fine whisky, a small peat monster: 5.5
Highland Park 12yo 1979-1991 65.2% Cadenhead's
I have always been a big fan of Cadenhead's as I find they have stock of many whiskies that other IB's yet are trailing to get. Say the Fettercairn or the Glenfarclas. And the %abv. of 65%+ I have only found one place else, at the also very excellent James MacArthur's. Good bottlers that aren't afraid to bottle at young age when the whisky is in its prime rather than letting it rest for extreme pricing at higher age contra good quality(of course not always the case). This one is pale and gets hazy straight away. Smells minty, very dry, cinnamon, heather, honey, spring onions and licorice. The taste is BIG!!!, Honey and vanilla with huge whiffs of peat and coastal salty character. Cream crackers, parmesan and lots of iodine.
This is a malt that's gonna challenge your tastebuds to the max: 7.5
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar