For the 9th Anniversary of the Malt Nuts, we gathered to pay homage to one of our collective favorite distilleries: Highland Park. We’re big fans of HP’s past, those old slope shoulders were majestic in their readily available beauty and remain highly sought-after bottles in the group and around the world.
Being painfully aware of the decline of the core expressions, but seeing how exceptional the Highland Park Light and Highland Park Dark were in our HP 20-25 yo mega tasting, we decided to turn our attention to the OB SIB CS HP releases. For those of you who don’t speak whiskey nerd, that’s Original Bottling (by the distiller) Single Barrel Cask Strength Highland Park.
To narrow the focus even more, we only included ex-Sherry barrels in an attempt to see how the distillery stacks now against where it was a mere 10 years ago when that sherried profile was its calling card.
We had 2 rounds with a pre and a bonus dram. The rounds, blinded as always, ended up breaking down like this.
- European vs American oak 1st fill sherry (12-years-old)
- Refill sherry (12-15-years-old)
Being big fans of Highland Park, this was far from our first HP tasting. If you’re looking for more to read during these trying times here’s a list of the Highland Park tastings the group has done since I’ve been a part of it. They’re listed chronological order.
- Malt Nuts: Highland Park Tasting
- Malt Nuts: Highland Park 20-25 Years Mega Tasting
- Malt Nuts: ex-Bourbon Highland Park
- Malt Nuts: Undisclosed Orkney Tasting
Like most nights we started with a Pre which, in this case and many cases, it was a revisit from a past tasting.
Pre: A.D. Rattray Cask Orkney 18 years: 46%
Nose: Fruit, Cheerios, char, malt, vanilla and spice.
Palate: Fruit, Cheerios, char, malt, vanilla, leather and spice.
Finish: Medium -> Fruit and malt.
Overall: (2.5 / 5) Good solid quaffable malt that has a nice bit of fruit from beginning to end.
After settling in and toasting our host it was off to the races with the Malt Nuts Sherried Highland Park Single Cask Tasting.
European vs American oak 1st fill sherry (12-years-old)
1A: Highland Park “Riptide” 12 years (05-18): 65.5% – 1st Fill European Oak Sherry Puncheon
Nose: Caramel, malty, toffee, smoke and vanilla.
Palate: Same as aroma but with more fruitiness and some leather.
Finish: Long -> Smoke and cough syrup
Overall: (2 / 5) Not tasty. Overly sweet and water brings out more sweetness and some acetone.
1B: Highland Park “BevMo” 12 years (04-17): 65.3% – 1st Fill European Sherry Oak Butt
Nose: Sulfur, sweet dark fruit, cocoa and stale apricots.
Palate: Sulfur and brown sugar, touch dried fruit.
Finish: Long -> Sulfur, char and syrupy sweetness.
Overall: (0.5 / 5) No. The sulfur nearly obliterates everything else in this whisky. It’s abrasive, harsh and terrible.
1C: Highland Park “The Commonwealth” 12 years (04-17): 64.8% – 1st Fill American Oak Sherry Puncheon
Nose: Pecan, toffee, Almond Rocca, smoke and oil.
Palate: Smoke, Almond Rocca and some dark fruit and leather.
Finish: Long -> Smoke, dark fruit syupr and leather.
Overall: (3.5 / 5) Has a nice solid maltiness to it and it comes together well overall with a sweet and savory kind of pairing. Olde candy notes come out with water.
Refill sherry (12-15-years-old)
2A: Highland Park “05 Single Cask” 12 years (05-18): 60.7% – Refill Sherry Butt
Nose: Toffee, char, butterscotch, smoke, dried fruit, and malt.
Palate: Toffee, char, butterscotch, smoke, dried fruit, and malt with added vanilla and savory spice.
Finish: Long -> Smoke and a funky malty spice character.
Overall: (2.5 / 5) Touch sulfur pops as it opens and gets more noticeable with water and the smoke turns ashier.
2B: Highland Park “California Edition” 13 years (05-18): 62.7% – Refill Sherry Butt
Nose: Buttery toffee, sulfur, char and heavy dark fruit.
Palate: Buttery toffee, sulfur, sweet cream, dried dark fruit, smoke and malt.
Finish: Long -> Herbal spice, sulfur, smoke and dark fruit.
Overall: (3.5 / 5) The butteriness and sweetness took the edge off the sulfur and brought it all together. Water shows more malt.
2C: Highland Park “Aberdeen Airport” 12 years (05-18): 64.4% – Refill Butt
Nose: Smoke, Cherry Coke, toffee, malt and dark fruit oil.
Palate: Char, leather, roasted malt, cocoa, Cherry Coke, and dark fruit oil.
Finish: Long -> Char, malt, dark fruit leather and smoke
Overall: (4 / 5) This is about as classic of HP as it gets these days. It’s a heavy brooding whisky with chewy malt and dark fruit notes pairing with the earthy smoke and leathery notes.
2D: SMWS Highland Park 15 years (01-16): 60.6% – Refill Butt/ex-Sherry
Nose: Sherry, smoke, dark fruit, leather, nuts, cocoa and ash.
Palate: Sherry, nuts, smoke, sulfur, dark fruit, char, leather, ash and cocoa.
Finish: Long -> Dark fruit, citrus, smoke and nuts.
Overall: (4.5 / 5) BAM! I take it back, THIS is as classic as it gets today. This is the reason people fall in love with Highland Park.
2E: Highland Park “K&L” 12 years (05-18): 64.5% – Refill Hogshead
Nose: Dried Strawberries, smoke, fresh-struck-matches, malt and cocoa.
Palate: Caramel, sherry sweetness, roasted malt, brown sugar and leather.
Finish: Long -> Smoke, sulfur, and citrus.
Overall: (4 / 5) Nice complex sweetness with plenty of dark fruity and darkly sweet notes to go around.
2F: Highland Park “04 Single Cask” 13 years (04-18): 63.2% – Refill Sherry Puncheon
Nose: Strawberry taffy, citrus, vanilla, toffee and smoke.
Palate: Orchard fruit, Smarties, smoke, malt and herbal spice.
Finish: Medium -> Dark fruit and spice, tad smoke.
Overall: (3.5 / 5) Sweet and spicy with only hints of smoke till water gets added, then the smoke kicks up a couple of notches.
2G: Highland Park “Frankfurt Airport” 13 years (04-18): 60.1% – Refill Butt
Nose: Meaty, fruity, oily, nutty and buttery with an herbal kicker.
Palate: Meaty, fruit, Necco, oily nuts, spice and ash.
Finish: Long -> Cough syrup, ash and Fruit Rollups
Overall: (2 / 5) Cough syrup keeps popping up which detracts, but thankfully doesn’t overwhelm. Water brings out the sulfur.
2H: Highland Park “London Gatwick” 12 years (05-17): 66.4% – Refill Butt
Nose: Smoke, toffee, butterscotch, fruit, nuts and spice.
Palate: Char, toffee dark fruit, orange pastry, saline and cough syrup.
Finish: Long -> Smoke and fruity dark chocolate
Overall: (3 / 5) Nice and even while also being all over the place flavor-wise. Water rings out some frosting notes. Decent.
Bonus: Signatory Highland Park 20 years (91-11): 46% – Sherry Butt
Nose: Sherry, smoke, dark fruit, leather, nuts, cocoa and ash.
Palate: Sherry, nuts, smoke, sulfur, dark fruit, char, leather, ash and cocoa.
Finish: Long -> Dark fruit, citrus, smoke and nuts.
Overall: (4.5 / 5) BAM! THIS is the reason people fall in love with Highland Park.
It’s a little bittersweet writing about this while in the current quarantine. Due to what’s going on we had to cancel a tasting of 20+ yo Glen Grant which the group was absurdly excited for. I had just nominated a new member, my new friend Bryan, who attended our Peated Loch Lomand tasting (coming later this week).
I sourced a bottle of Loch Lomand for him and he spent the night getting to know this amazing group of whisky nerds. We ended the night chatting about what we were bringing for the Glen Grant tasting in two weeks and what I’d be serving for my annual St. Paddy’s dinner which he and his wife were coming to. None of which happened, it’s crazy how fast those plans, and the world, changed.
Though, if anything, I think this experience will help us enjoy these moments more by realizing just how fragile our society really is. These tastings and times together, once we can have them again, will hopefully hold even more meaning.
I’m sure the first one will be a bit awkward without the usual hugs and handshakes, but I think that will be temporary. As time drops its veil on our memory and a vaccine become readily available we’ll get back to the way things were. Which I’m looking forward to, but hope we don’t forget this time and we take just a second each time to appreciate the moment we’re in.
Thanks for reading, cheers.
