I found out that I'm receiving a couple samples of Clynelish that I want to incorporate in a tasting of older glories from the distillery. So instead, I do this tasting with an old acquaintance, the Highland Park distillery. Four whiskies that I have little or no idea what to expect from, hopefully there will be some old peaty HP in here with lots of honey?
Highland Park 8yo 40% Gordon & Macphail
One of those flat miniature bottles that G&M used to release in both 40% and 57%abv versions. Probably from the 80's, cream color and lots of gold on the label. Golden brown color, lots of E150, or some sherry casks involved in the vatting? Smells wonderfully sweet, lots of honey, seems much richer than a young and diluted whisky should. Also some herbs, minerals and peat. Salt and baking allspice is here. Toffee and whipped cream. Sweet, yet spicy and peaty, very flavorsome, almost too perfect so far, lacks bitterness (just a small hint is needed sometimes). The taste is sweet, too sweet, small hints of peat, lots of caramel and burnt sugar. This is just a tad too predictable on the palate. No aftertaste in this one.
Smooth as silk but lacks edge, like Jennifer Lopez: 5
Highland Park 13yo 40% The Whisky Connoisseur btl.5/206 Porsche 997 Commemoration
A green bottle, looks really old, but I can't find much information, A funny botlle with a photo of a Porsche 997 on the label and the headline "Art of the Sports Car". A pale one, white wine color, probably a bourbon cask? I have no idea when this was bottled. It smells pine wood, ginger, turnip, red paprika, white rum, licorice, grassiness, dried grass. The taste is sweet, almond oil, lavendel, soft floral, interestingly sweet. Sort of a rosé water sweetness, very modest and light. But it's interesting. The lack of any spirity notes let's all these nice summer notes forward, and it makes for a nice aperitif, but in the long run it's a bit too weak.
Another one that needs an edge, or spark if you like: 4
Highland Park 16yo 1989-2005 46% Cask & Thistle Collection
Another one from an IB-series that I do not know much about. In that respect, this quite a fun tasting, but I wouldn't say HP has hit the strive so far tonight. Maybe this one will make it a bit more fun. Smells sweet, mint drops, aspic gel, hazelnuts, almonds, roasted carrots, another one with this modest sweetness, but much fuller this time, sort of buttery and creamy as well. The taste is bittersweet, like orange zest. And that's about it, needs some water perhaps? With additional water it becomes much more flavorsome, caramel and apple cider, roasted shalots and dried dates. A very pleasant surprise, the best one so far in this session.
A good thing some flavors don't run on accord with everything else in here: 6
Highland Park 12yo 40% OB 2010
I haven't tried the standard since the 2008 version, time to change that. New packaging, and from what I can tell, a bit lighter in color than the older versions. Maybe a little less sherry in the mix? Smells old style oloroso sherry and dry oak. Best nose so far. There's some peat in here as well, and lots of caramel and honey. A sweet surprise. The taste is rather lighter than what I recall it to be. Some light sherried notes, banana, cinnamon, grassiness, fried wheat batter and nutmeg. The palate is a bit of a letdown after the initially ever so gently peated nose. This brings a theory I once heard pronounced at a bar a few years back to mind. In english it'd be something like this "When nosing a whisky that consists of both sherry and bourbon oak, the sherry will be superior on nose and the bourbon will leave you devastated on the palate." I'm no sherry-freak, but I'd like there to be a bit more on the palate, and I miss some of the vanilla and pepper from the bourbon wood. And the peat seems to be all vanished now.
Personally I think this is a step or some down for HP12: 4
Next Distillery: Laphroaig Distillery (I'm so looking forward to this!!!)
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