A Highland Park tasting with quite a few surprises. No need to explain why HP is a classic malt? The northernmost distillery in all of Scotland, old as Matusalem (or a couple centuries to go, only!), and a vast producer of great malt whisky. I did find, however, an unexpected Scapa, of great character in amongst all these HPs, and I got to include some very recent Magnus bottlings and try the up against a very old one. Jolly good!
Highland Park 13yo 1997-2010 43% OB for Taiwan, The Sword, Viking Collection
From a mix of sherried & bourbon casks, all 1997-2010 vintages. Exclusively bottled for Taiwan, another asian market, small Island outside, and part of China, with a growing demand of single malt whisky. More and more asian markets seems to be demanding single malt whisky nowadays, just look to India, whole of China and wealthy states like Qatar and Saudi-Arabia showing much interest. Big markets, remember asia holds close to 4 billion in population alone, how will the industry cope? Dark golden hue. Smells honeyed and citrussy, some nice coastal notes, soft peat, salt, boiled shellfish, shrimps and crabs, toffee, orange, really well made old style HP so far. The taste is thick, rich syrupy, honey, vanilla and huge cinnamon impacts on the finish. The cinnamon almost knocks this one out of the park. A touch of peat as well just to keep it from being too sweet. Reminds me of some of the older 12yo's when they were more sherry dominated.
Perfect old style HP: 8.5
Kirkwall Orkney Malt/Highland Park NAS 48% The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (Scapa(!???!!!))
Last tasting I mentioned IB's giving little information on the label, in that case, this one must be a winner. I'm only assuming it to be an HP due to the mention of Kirkwall on the label, it could in theory also be from Scapa distillery. The only thing I really know 100% sure without a doubt is that it holds 48%abv. I do not even know if it's a single or blended malt. But I do however presume it is a HP single malt. Light white wine color. It smells lemon tart, fresh bakery, bitter sweets, coffee beans, herbal extract, honey, lavender, rich toffee, this is without a doubt, at least on my part, a Highland Park single malt whisky! The taste is thick, dark chocolate, peppery, waxy, ginger, a bit more Scapa now... hmm.. In fact so much, that I'm pretty sure it is a Scapa. The finish is peppery and a bit tannic/drying.
Further investigation online proved it to be a very good Scapa: 7.5
Highland Park 32yo 1975-2008 50% OB World Duty Free cask#6596
Exclusively sold at duty free shops, and as old as this is I would not be surprised if it is very close to, or even maybe bottled at cask strength. The color is amber orange. It smells rich, all on vanilla, heather, oak, honey, orange zest, a lot of orange zest indeed, creamy, some hints of rice pudding and herbal tea. The taste is thick, spicy, creamy, honey, sulphury, oaky, dusty, smoky, peaty, it's got it all I must say, and these notes were not written on random even though it may appear so. Most of all it is a very tannic and rustic whisky with huge array of nutty influence and quite some caramel. I did add water to this, but the complexity found in both alternatives showed the small differences to be insignificant.
I feared it was going to be oaky, I guess it was everything else: 8.5
Highland Park 14yo 1997-2012 51.9% Creative Whisky Company cask#6255
A single cask that has been finished in a PX sherry cask. Maybe a sherry cask that's been finished in another sherry cask? Who knows? We've already had a great experience with another 997 HP thus far tonight, why should this differ.. Golden brown hue. It smells thick and creamy, some tannic notes, licorice, java coffee, burnt, a more heavily sherried version than the other ones in this tasting. So far at least, remember, there's still Magnus's to go. The taste is rich and intense, the PX sherry notes overwhelms me, syrup, honey, cinnamon, cognac, Great stuff! But water could work to open it up a bit as there is little or no finish to be found. With a small drop of water it turns more leathery, sulphury, it beams out more sherry off-notes now, but initially it was a great whisky that just lacked a finish.
Don't add water, add time: 7
Highland Park 15yo 52.6% OB Earl Magnus Edition 1
Thank lord HP did not find a gaelic name such as Corryvreckan, A'bunadh or Darach Ur to display their new series, remember, they're really not scottish but swedish up there. The color is golden. It smells heather, peppery, salt, varnish, peat, mine dust, a far more eccentric whisky than thus had this far. The taste is very frying and tannic, more difficult, needs some water to open up and reveal its personality. With water it turns more bitter, cinnamon, green grapes, drying. Definitively more interesting now.
This one needs bot time and water, and it'll serve you well: 7.5
Highland Park 12yo 55% OB st. Magnus Edition 2
In just two bottlings he's gone from being a an Earl to a Saint, what's next? King or Illicit Distiller? The color is light copper. It smells very floral and herbal as opposed to the rest in this tasting. Some daffodils, fried onions, red paprika, wheat brew, cognac, rustic, dried fruits, dry white wine, strawberries, extremely weird and extremely interesting. The taste is burnt, toffee, dark chocolate, burnt caramel, sweet licorice, orange zest, lime, a lot of sherry in this mix. I'm afraid this one will go as a whisky not recognized because of its "hard-to-follow" predecessor, but if it counts at all, I think its way much better than that.
I could smell this one for hours, taste, it'll all be good: 8
#7 Classic Malts:
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