Orkney 13 yo 2007/2020 'Reserve Casks Parcel No 4' (48%, Elixir Distillers 'Single Malts Of Scotland', 3 ex-sherry butts)
You don't see too many sherry casks of these stocks about, was this a re-rack? Colour: bright amber. Nose: a modern style of sherry that's rather fudgey and showing lots of bright jammy notes. Raspberry and strawberry jams, some slightly balsamic and acetic touches, walnut wine, plum sauce and wee touches of hessian. Very good but these slightly sharper acetic notes are slightly too much for me in places. Mouth: breads, earth, roasted Brazil nuts and marzipan. Spiced almonds, paprika, rose syrup, more simple supermarket red fruit jams, cranberry gravy and a little miso. Finish: medium in length and again this feeling of sharpness. Hot red fruit teas, canvass, chilli oil, burnt toast and bitter chocolate. Comments: It's a solid wee modern sherry bomb. I just think it could have done with a few more years in cask to round off the edges.
SGP: 462 - 84 points.

Breath of the Isles 13 yo 2007/2020 (58.6%, Adelphi, refill sherry, 656 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: there is a 'sibling' impression of sharpness that seems to echo from the Elixir bottling. Only here instead of this acetic quality, it's more around citric acidity, salinity, cellar must and damp coal embers. Over time there's a much clearer impression of an 'Orkney accent' emerging. Some sheep wool oils, a lick of peat, sandalwood and dried herbs. With water: lovely! Lots of ozone, mineral salts, bay leaf, lemon peel and some drier aspects like chalk and bit of brittle waxiness. Mouth: peppery and prickly with alcohol. But it's also nicely savoury, salty, heathery, sooty, piney and with this firm impression of coastal freshness and distant, heathery peat smoke. Unmistakeable! With water: rather more oily in texture, all on seawater, cooking oils - sunflower oil and smoked olive oil perhaps - sandalwood, camphor and putty. Finish: medium in length but rather coastal, fresh, invigorating and with further impressions of sheep wool oils and sandalwood. Comments: pretty exemplary and solid Orkney 'stuff'!
SGP: 463 - 87 points.

Orkney 14 yo (60.4%, Elixir Distillers 'Single Malts Of Scotland' for USA, cask #45)
Colour: straw. Nose: a rather lovely hay loft style dustiness at first. Canvass, crisp cereals, barley water and wet chalk with an increasing sense of lemon zest, muddled herbs and seawater building over time. The overall impression is of abundant freshness and 'brightness', the sort of profile that inevitably begins to take in freshly laundered linens, starches, chalk and wet pebbles too. Lovely stuff! With water: perfect! Chiselled, taut, sharply coastal, citric, chalky, poised cereals, a few white breads and impressions of toasted mixed seeds. Mouth: unexpectedly sweet upon arrival. Wonderfully syrupy, naturally sugary, cooking oils, malt syrup, new leather, white pepper, canvass, menthol tobacco and pinecones. Feels rich and fatty with this impression of fresh butter and cooking oils. With water: lemon infused olive oil, chopped parsley, heather flower, shilling ales, brown bread and umami paste. Finish: long, peppery, hints of jasmine tea, aniseed, ointments, menthol tobacco again and a light, refreshing salinity. Comments: this is a good example of where these stocks cross the borderline between being just 'very good Orkney malt' to 'classy'.
SGP: 552 - 88 points. 

Orkney Malt 14 yo 2006/2020 (60.9%, Watt Whisky, ruby port barrique 'rested', 307 bottles)
Kate and Mark have called this kind of 'flash finishing' technique 'resting', which in this case was 5 months in a ruby port barrique. I have to say, pink whiskies tend to make me nervous. But then again, so does Mark Watt… ;) Colour: deep pink. Nose: there is still this undeniable, and maybe even immutable freshness going on here. Something which seems a hallmark of these parcels of whisky. However, you cannot help but feel this one also 'smells' pink. Wee notes of redcurrant, fruit preserves and indeed even port. So there probably was some 'dissolving' of residues going on within those final five months. This sits neatly along with glazed pastries, breads, background herbal notes and some lighter notes of dried flowers and sandalwood. With water: fruit loops alongside honey glazed ham and stem ginger. Some Tizer as well perhaps. We're entering new realms. Mouth: clever! Jammy sweetness indeed but it's not at the expense of the more punchy saline and cereal aspects of this whisky. Some fatty frying bacon, coal smoke and things like peppery grilled meats and a wee touch of seawater. The port does become a notch too jammy for me over time but it's surprisingly restrained all things considered. With water: this impression of sharp red fruits becomes more pronounced and yet the more typical qualities such as sandalwood, heather flowers and cereals remain prominent. Finish: medium, good weight, very light peat notes, peppery, more malty and with a little lanolin. Comments: it's not really my style of whisky, but within that overall world of finishing and short term cask tweaking, I think it works pretty well. I'm sure lovers of this kind of whisky will find a lot to enjoy, precisely because - despite the suggestions of the colour - it's been done with a lightness of touch that leaves plenty distillery character in place.
SGP: 653 - 81 points.

Highland Park 12 1/2 yo 'Viking Soul Cask' (56.5%, OB for HPAS Denmark, cask #500130, firkin, 57 bottles)
Colour: deep orangey gold. Nose: the thing about these bottling is that I really should not like them and yet I cannot help but find them excellent! The nose here is full of fir cones, pine wood, herbal liqueurs, throat lozenges, cough medicines, liquorice and verbena. This wonderfully syrupy and mentholated concoction that feels like the result of some deeply integrated, rather syrupy peat smoke somewhere in the depths. There's also this creamy coconut vibe which feels close to these fruity American oak styles of those wartime vintage malts bottled by G&M in the 1980s. With water: takes on a crisp smokiness, bacon crisps, smoked teas, heather flowers, herbs and putty. Mouth: similarly very good, but the wood feels just a little too edgy and spicy here. Straying a bit too close to varnished hardwoods and cupboard spices. But it's overall still very good. Lots of toasted spices, wormwood, resins, dried flowers and some mead (Vikings drank mead didn't they?) With water: cough mixtures, lemon barley water, cured game meats, old cream sherry, miso, eucalyptus balm - really superb with water! Finish: good length, some spiced marmalade, more herbal cough mixtures, marmite, menthol tobacco and more of these piney and wormwood qualities. Comments: The wood is very dominant in these bottlings, but the thing is it has been 'done' in a way which is undeniably clever. It manages to feel both old style and modern at the same time. These creamy, coconutty and medicinal concoctions are distinctive and really interesting. Technically brilliant, and brilliantly technical.
SGP: 563 - 89 points.

Highland Park 13 yo 2003/2016 (59.1%, OB for 'Highland Park Appreciation Society', cask #2115, refill butt, 576 bottles)
I think it's cool that what is essentially a fan community can go to their favourite distillery and get a single cask done. More distillery companies should do this in my view, so hats off to Edrington on that one. Colour: amber. Nose: sticky dark fruits, plum wine, pomegranate molasses, date loaf and strong fruit teas. Goes on with some Cointreau, chocolate spread, miso paste, herbal bitters and earthen wine cellar must. You could add in a fistful of walnuts while you're at it. With water: easier and very pleasurably muddling together dark chocolate, earth, tobaccos, dried mushrooms and hessian. Mouth: nicely peppery and even more focused on these sticky dark fruits, cloves, spiced blood oranges, mulling spices, natural tar, heather ales, bouillon stock and mint tea. Gingerbread, hessian and more mulchy and camphory notes. With water: more towards chocolate sauce with hints of Bovril, game meats, cranberry gravy, damson preserve, white miso and truffle. Really excellent with water. Finish: long, earthy, slightly nutty, still pretty chocolate-heavy and with further notes of tobacco, leaf mulch, teas and leather. Comments: what emerges over time, with water, is an extremely classical and pleasurable sherry-matured HP profile. But then, what did you expect from the esteemed members of the HPAS? There's a 'stickiness' on the palate and in the finish in particular which is really excellent.
SGP: 562 - 89 points.

Highland Park 16 yo 2003/2019 (58.9%, OB for The Whisky Exchange, cask #1885, 1st fill European oak sherry butt, 585 bottles)
Colour: deep reddish amber. Nose: quite typical of these European oak casks, this is immediately on simmering, toasty wood spices. Deeply focused around cocoa, espresso, natural tar, sarsaparilla and herbal medicines. Some 1950s Fernet Branca perhaps, alongside a few strong throat sweets. Add to that some cherry-infused dark beers, cured ham and bouillon stock. With water: cola cubes, game meats, paprika, natural tar and spiced fruit loaf. Mouth: Iberico ham with smoked black tea, hot chocolate infused with chilli, walnut wine, black pepper, boiled cinnamon sweets and things like cola syrup and posh root beer. With water: concentrated, spicy and chocolatey with many more of these syrupy, chocolatey and bitterly herbal qualities coming through. Medicinal and with these peppery, nibbling tannins. Finish: good length, strongly herbal and more towards bitter teas, stocks, earth, black olives and various roots, herbs and peppery aspects. Comments: very good, but I think the bitterness and tannin rally a little too assertively on the palate and in the aftertaste to go higher in terms of score.
SGP: 462 - 86 points.

An Orkney Distillery 1998/2020 (52.6%, Archives 'The Fishes Of Samoa', cask #10, hogshead, 325 bottles)
Is it possible to feel as though you've visited Samoa without ever having been? Colour: white wine. Nose: chalky, chiselled, crispy cereal, brilliantly fresh, bright and breezily coastal. Of an age where these coastal, cereal and gently herbal peat smoke qualities are beginning to morph into a more overt waxiness, which is particularly enchanting. A little touch of creamy smoked vanilla, lemon barley water, gauze and pine wood. With water: doubles down on the lemony notes, almost like a slightly salted limoncello. More bright, sweet cereal notes, very soft waxes and heather flowers. Mouth: brightly citric, coastal, fresh, crisp cereals again, pine needles, crushed aspirin and more lemon barley water. Also some smoked olive oil and mixed dried herbs. There's a kind of crusty saltiness about it as well, which maintains a constant impression of freshness - something so many of these Orkney malts seem to possess in spades. With water: lanolin, white pepper, lemongrass, putty, aniseed and cough medicines. A delicate thread of peat smoke and some dried seaweed in umami broths. Finish: medium, herbal, still nicely coastal, some olive oil and sandalwood. Comments: evocative, playful, superbly fresh and pin sharp mature Orkney malt. Just lacks a little extra complexity that would have propelled it passed the 90 mark.
SGP: 462 - 89 points.

Highland Park 28 yo 1992/2020 (58.7%, Cadenhead for Cadenhead Whisky Shop Milan, butt, 396 bottles)
Colour: bright straw. Nose: beautifully clean, sharp and elegant, there's also a crisp, green and exotic fruitiness that these later vintages don't possess. Clear notes of guava, kiwi, lime and papaya coming through. Beneath that comes a big waft of malt bin and kiln air: pure, gristy, clean, rich maltiness. Lemon tea, verbena, cough medicines and old school bitter ales. An extremely pure and rather impressively raw style, even at such an age. With water: greener, more assertively herbal, green chartreuse perhaps, but also myrtle, sandalwood, seaweed, mineral salts, sandalwood and citronella wax. Mouth: big arrival, wonderfully textural, oily and waxy. Herbal infused olive oil, miso, parsley butter, cough medicines, Barbour grease, putty, seawater, pink grapefruit and tangerine. Another style really, one which encapsulates older highland styles with this assertive waxiness and no nonsense mineral edge. With water: lemon rind, seawater, cough mixtures, limestone and smoked olive oil. Wonderful! Finish: good length, remains on medicines, herbs, sea air, minerals, waxes and this wonderful oiliness. Comments: It took us a while but we have comfortably reached the 90 mark. Well worth trying if you get the chance, this is a superb and pretty fascinating old HP from a very politely knackered old sherry cask. Solid work by Cadenhead.
SGP: 663 - 90 points.

Highland Park 28 yo 1980/2008 (43%, Mackillop's Choice, for USA)
I know we probably shouldn't be having a 43% whisky at the end of such a session, but a sufficient break has occurred and it seemed fitting… Colour: gold. Nose: another world. If all you knew was this was Highland Park you'd say a 1960s distillate I'm sure. The peat is just so wonderfully pronounced, distinctive and palpable here. Herbal, rooty, oily, fatty, earthy and thick. Metal polish, soot, vegetable stocks, shoe polish, old mead, coconut and natural tar. Just beautiful and stunningly expressive old Highland Park. A big surprise to be honest. Mouth: the good news is it holds up perfectly. The peat is quite astonishing in this one, was this one fully floor malted? From an old cask that held 50s HP before it? Stunningly herbal, mineral, oily and gelatinous peat. Let's not forget some coastal notes of wet rocks, chalk and dried seaweed too. But really this one is about the organic beauty and complexity of the peat flavours. Finish: long, deeply complex, herbal, full of menthol and fruit teas, waxes, smoked oils, camphor, hessian and peat embers. Comments: a whisky out of time. There are many lovely early 80s distilled Highland Parks, but this noses and tastes like it was distilled in the 1950s. Perhaps due to the bottling strength, it's actually wonderfully reminiscent of the old official green dumpy bottlings from the 1970s. Anyway, I really love it, and a fitting close to this session.
SGP: 565 - 92 points.