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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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August 20, 2019 |
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Highland Park 13.5yo (55.4%, OB, The Geert Bero Family Reserve, Quarter cask, cask #700064) 
Love the family idea, very smart. The half year is funny too, I suppose the SWA will get them all jailed subito presto. No worries Geert, we'll bring oranges (I am joking, this is most certainly 100% legal). Colour: amber. Nose: we’re geared towards cakes, and milk chocolate, and praline at first nosing, but some camphory, almost tea-ish notes are soon to emerge from the oak (I suppose). It is more ‘old’ style HP after the very clean secret ones we had yesterday, but I see no sulphur, or rubber, or vanilla, or any embarrassing aromas that tend to pester many a modern whisky these days. Nutshell, it’s rich and it’s balanced at the same time. With water: oak, teak, beech, pinewood, black tea… Mouth (neat): rich, extractive, almost a little heavy, and very singular, with more ginger than usual. Typical quarter cask (or even smaller vessels), this is almost akin to some of the many new craft spirits that are making massive, and sometimes very smart use of small active casks. Oh I’ll say it, it’s as if, say Smögen had bought some HP fillings and taken care of then ‘as they usually do with their own stuff’. Would be cool, no? I’d love it if, say Westland would buy some Lagavulin new make, for example. See the idea? With water: craft! Finish: long, jammier. Always this ginger in the aftertaste, that’s the oak dancing on your palate. A little coconut. Comments: to make a huge first-tier distillery kind of ‘craft’, that’s a good idea! But beware deforestation…
SGP:452 - 89 points. |
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Highland Park 30 yo 1988/2018 (49%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, bourbon hogshead, 270 bottles) 
In theory… Colour: gold. Nose: it’s much smoother, easier, cake-ier, and perhaps more complex than all the other ones. We’re rather finding fudges, creams, some butterscotch, shortbread, madeleines, herbal teas, chamomile, many nuts (earthy macadamias is obvious), and many flowers. Chamomile again, dandelions, light honeys… It really is an easy, gentle, civilised HP after the flavour-packed young ones. Mouth: ooh this is good! Citrus and medicines, the perfect combo. Lime, camphor, iodine, grapefruits, angelica, wormwood, mint tea, eucalyptus, green and white peppers… And the strength and mouth feel are just perfect. Finish: very long, much more peppery. Huge pepper, paprika, you have to like that. I do. Liquorice wood in the aftertaste, plus some custard to round it off. Comments: something else, clearly, and it’s clearly indy too, that is to say very deviant, in the greatest of ways. Perfect, well done, this is clearly offering ‘an alternative’. That’s how the indies used to introduce themselves… thirty years ago.
SGP:462 - 90 points. |
Back to a newer one (since it just came in while we’re doing this - at time of writing)… |
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Highland Park 17 yo 2001/2019 (54.9%, Gordon & MacPhail for The Whisky Exchange, cask # 19/066, 163 bottles)
Bottled for the 20th Anniversary of The Whisky Exchange. Crikey, The Whisky Exchange is even older than little Whiskyfun(dot)com, by 3 years! But kudos Sukhinder and brother and gang, very well done! Now, could you please talk to Boris and… Colour: gold. Nose: this one’s more brutal, almost more ruthless than all the others, with more raw eau-de-vie-ish notes at first, then many fruit stones, kirsch, then peelings, earth, fresh nuts, beetroots, celeriac, gentian, zests… In short, another kind of Highland-Parkness yet again, more rustic than the others. With water: vase water, mud, wool, metal polish. Rustic indeed. Mouth (neat): oh, this has got nothing to do with the nose! Some hotter sauvignon blanc (warm place, hot vintage), plus some aniseedy grasses, fennel, carrots, then some saltier, mildly smoky notes. Custard. The cask was rather active this time but the tight spirit was not buried. With water: tiny notes of tiny tinned litchis. Frank Zappa would have loved this, I suppose. Finish: it improved over time, this time the citrus fruits are taking over. Grapefruits running the show, love that a lot. The aftertaste is much bitterer and grassier, having said that. Comments: a movie malt, meaning it keeps changing, while it never lost its rusticity, which is not very London, is it? Happy anniversary, TWE! And so about BoJo, if you could stuff him with…
SGP:462 - 88 points. |
Since we were at G&M’s in a way… |
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Highland Park 30 yo 1989/2019 (51.1%, Gordon & MacPhail, Connoisseurs Choice Cask Strength, 489 bottles) 
They have merged the CC and the CS ranges, the CS having become CC CS. All clear? This is Elgin, baby! Colour: gold. Nose: stones, rocks, chalk, grasses, mint, camphor... then butter, sylvaner, asparagus peel, mashed potatoes and turnips, lovage… To be honest, I’m not sure I ever found this much lovage in the nose of any whisky. With water: earth, mud, old musty cellar, more turnips. Beets and even cabbage. Mouth (neat): ah, yes! Citrus, tartes, angelica, some earthy/lemony roots (the name escapes me), agaves, then lovage again, with touches of rosemary. I think this is relatively beautiful. With water: ouch, it does not like my Vittel on the palate. Gets a little metallic (in the wrong way), even if the citrus behave admirably. Finish: medium, lemony and peppery, but with a little sour wood, especially in the aftertaste. Not the nicest part. Comments: that’s the thing with single casks or very small batches, you cannot reproduce them and that makes for a large part of their charms, even when they have tiny flaws. Consistency is for vodka, friends. I’d ad that G&M have had some of the most seminal HPs ever, including some majestic 30s (but we also fondly remember the 8s)…
SGP:461 - 86 points. |
 Check the index of all HPs we've tasted so far
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