Highland Park The Dolphins (First Edition) Whisky 70cl

I've no idea what this is like as I've not opened my matte bottle, and never will. It's an heirloom to my children and grandchildren and heads the memorabilia that I have accumulated during the time I wore Dolphins at Gosport and Faslane in the 70's and 80's. If you have a Matte bottle, don't open it. They are now rare.

Some over enthusiasm from ex submariners I think with the scoring so far for this. 5 stars is the top score and should be reserved for those whiskys that are fantastic. Anything by HP is generally fairly average and this one doesn't quite meet that mark. As an ex submariner myself I have 4 bottles though :-)

Great whiskey, I have one of the original Matt black bottles, had a dram from six bottles at a recent reunion - hic!

As an ex submariner I was delighted to get two bottles of this albeit only in the gloss finish. I think the 5 star reviews are perhaps over keen individuals like myself who have a nostalgic view and over egged score. Definitely a four star whisky, 5 is perhaps generous but each to their own. I bought these at ~£40 each but wouldn't pay much more given that there are better quality whisky's for less. I note now that even the gloss bottle has been discontinued so I will be keeping my second bottle unopened for now.

There is some confusion here. This is the original Dolphins bottling, limited to just 1500 bottles and only available to the RN Submarine Service. A second more widely available release came some time later to Highland Park "members" at a much lower price.

Nonetheless, this is an excellent whisky, which I had the pleasure to sample during a Royal Navy visit. A lomg more-ish finish too... and highly collectable!

The matte black bottle pictured here was a limited run and was the original bottles produced.

The bottles being produced currently are different in shape and the glass is gloss black not matte black as pictured.

If you have a matte black bottle it is rare and part of a small number of bottles originally produced in that style.

Horrible price! It's still available to order fom the distillery at £40!

Really nice whiskey

This bottle was by far the best bottle of whisky I have tried.