Etikettarkiv: Highland park review

Highland Park, Islands

Highland Park 1998

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ABV: 40 %
Origin: Islands
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and floral. At first there’s a sweet mix of honey, vanilla and heather coming through from the center and a very mild whiff of peat and tobacco slowly rising up towards the edges. It takes a few seconds for them to meet up to create a whole. When they do the floral notes are pushed forwards together with a fresh fruitiness. The sweet layer moves slightly backwards and gets a butterscotch note added within. There’s also a menthol layer hovering above everything else. This is a very nice nose and it’s shaped like a cone; With a wide sweet bottom and a fresh pointy top.

Mouth: It starts out with a thick layer with everything mixed in. There are notes of heather, assorted tropical fruits, tobacco, peat, honey and vanilla. There’s even a fresh saw dust oakiness and they’re all coming through at once. After a few seconds it starts to once again create the same cone as on the nose with the fruitiness and heather up front and the sweetness in the back. The tobacco and peat smoke is a bit heavier in taste than on the nose. The oakiness is floating around outside of the cone.

Finish: The menthol returns for a quick visit but it’s soon pierced by the fresh tropical fruitiness and the floral notes. The oakiness is still very fresh with plenty of wood spices and it’s creating a woody scenery in the background. There’s also a hint of ripe fruits somewhere in the middle but maybe it’s the tobacco notes and the peat creating an illusion. This is a very good whisky despite its low ABV. It’s a bit mild and a bit too oaky, but it never feels flat and/or over-oaked.

Additional information
The Highland Park 1998 was bottled in 2016 so it’s a 12 YO expression. It’s a travel retail exclusive which focuses on maturation in first fill ex-american bourbon barrels.

Highland Park, Islands

Highland Park Einar

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ABV: 40 %
Origin: Islands
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. At first there’s a sweet round layer of honey and vanilla surrounding a core of fresh red berries. Underneath a mild and herbaceous peatiness creates a backdrop. There’s also a fresh peach and sour lemon freshness somewhere within. Cinnamon, oak and black liquorice are all in there as well. It becomes sweeter over time. This is a good nose but it feels a bit thin and shallow with the peatiness not really connecting to the other flavours.

Mouth: It starts out a bit flat, but soon there’s a honey and butterscotch note arriving together with a leathery and smoky peatiness and a mild black pepper spicyness. The fruitiness is sent to the back and the liquorice and honey notes are up front. There’s a nice gritty background flavour with oak, rubber and a hint of sulfur. This creates a much needed layer of complexity. The fruitiness comes back together with vanilla notes after a while.

Finish: The black pepper returns in small sprinkles as the finish starts with an otherwise flat array of sweetness and mild peat. There are still red berries within but they are now darker. There are raisins and overripe plums peeking through. The gritty background notes return and they stay behind together with vanilla and butterscotch when the oakiness starts to build up. The oakiness is a nice mix of fresh and dry oak and it’s got a nice spicy character. There’s also a small nutty side to it. This is a very good whisky but it really lacks some power.

Additional information
The Highland Park Einar was released as a travel retail exclusive in 2011. The ppm is 20 and it’s aged in both american and european Oloroso sherry seasoned oak casks. It has natural colour.

Highland Park, Islands

Highland Park 16 YO – Wings of the Eagle

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ABV: 44,5 %
Origin: Islands
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is mixed fruits and mild peat. At first there’s a heavy hit of mixed tropical fruits and red berries. Underneath lies a dark and slightly dirty baseline with raisins, a hint of sulfur and a very laid back aromatic tobacco peatiness. With time in the glass there’s oranges and nectarines coming through within the fruitiness. There’s also an outer layer of vanilla and oak which sort of clings to the edges of the glass. This is a very pleasant and welcoming nose without it being easy or boring.

Mouth: It starts out by filling the outer edges with a tobacco and leather peatiness. After a second of two there’s a dark sherry fruitiness filling up the center part of the palate with overripe plums, raisins and a dash of coffee liqueuer. The peatiness works it way closer to the center over time. It’s very rich in both taste and texture with an oily feel to it. For those who wait there’s a very pleasant vanilla oakiness joining the peat around the edges. The peat increases in intensity over time.

Finish: It starts out with a fresh peppermint gently sweeping through before a fresh tropical fruitiness arrives. The dark fruity sherry notes also return but are restricted to the background together with the peatiness, a hint of sulfur and black coffee. It stays like this for a good while and the oakiness comes through fashionably late. The oakiness is a nice mix of bitter notes and sweeter fresher vanilla ones. There’s a hint of walnuts, orange peel and coffee. This is a great whisky which offers flavours from contrasting sides and making them work together.

Additional information
This 16 YO was released in 2018 as a travel retail exclusive. It’s aged in a mix of sherry-seasoned european and american oak casks with an emphasis on the european casks. It has natural colour.