The entry level bottling from Scotland's most northerly distillery, Highland Park, aged for 12 years. This is an older design, before the Highland Park range underwent a rebrand in 2017, and another in 2024. A fab find for a retro collection.
These bottles were part of a private collection - if you'd like more detailed photos just get in touch!
Drinking neat: lovely earthy peat, brine, charred oak, floral, tangerine, grapefruit, custard, sugar sweet, jasmine, citrus, bandaid. It is in fact a very well rounded dram. Like a mix between a Highland, Islay, & a Speyside; with each playing a equal role. The first thing that hits you it the peat smoke and brine, followed by the rich decadence of a Highland mix with a floral and fruity Speyside. I've heard about Highland Park since first taking an interest in Scotch and with it, high praise and recommendation. I'd say it's a very enjoyable whiskey that I will happily consume but would I put it on the same pedestal as my Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban, Lagavulin 16, or Laphroaig Triple Wood? Not likely. In fact, when I first took a sniff and sip of this from the bottle I grabbed my Laphroaig Triple Wood to compare the peat. I nosed and sipped the Laphroaig and immediately realized it was world's better than the Highland Park. I'll say though, HP is very balanced and gives the best of all three regions listed above. It's definitely worth a try.
Our first of a whiskey tasting session. Pleasant and honest - open and fresh at the nose, an impression upheld by the rounded, lightly convex palate. Grilled orange as yet undiscovered.
So this bottle was suggested to me as a way to ease myself into peated whisky (if you're a whisky expert take my comments with a grain of salt, if you're new to peated whisky this review may help). My first few sips were somewhat reminiscent of rubber, salt, smoke, etc, all of the things I had heard peat should taste like and I was slightly put off. when I set my empty glass down after the first dram, the salty aftertaste had me craving more. Now my mouth waters every time I smell Highland Park 12. If you want to try peated whisky but are hesitant, start with this one!! You'll come to crave the salty and mildly smokey flavors this whisky offers as the pear and honey notes begin to stand out. A marvelous blend of so many flavors and the mouthful is so silky. Enjoy!
Smokey, peaty, peppery, heathery, a silky sweet combo of marzipan and sherried oak. No wonder it tastes like heaven. A complexity that is hard to match at the cost. Keep up the great work Highland Park!
This used to be the ultimate all rounder. These days, the pressure on stocks has reduced it to an insipid harsh remnant of its former self.. Still a bit of heather, honey and smoke, but it's backbone is abrasive and thin. Buy a bottle of 12 yr old from the 1990's and you'll see what I mean.
