I remember falling hard for Highland Park years ago. One of my best mates was the brand ambassador at the time I was courting HP (or maybe it was courting me?), and I vividly recall attending events he hosted and feeling like there was something kinda special about this distillery. Between his ability to evocatively express what I was picking up in the glass and his profound gift for marrying fact, history, and humor, I was probably the proverbial fish in a barrel. In fact, I know I was.
That doesn’t change the fact that Highland Park was, on the whole, releasing some pretty damn good malts. And quite regularly, at that. I think we can be confident they still have great casks in those storied warehouses, but I’m just not certain where they’re ending up these days. The core HP range is weaker than I can ever remember it being, the branding is a constant source of mockery for many folks (come on, guys, the Viking thing is played out), and the higher age statement releases have been stratospherically positioned, ergo pricing out many of the old vanguard. I hate to say it, but when it comes to Highland Park, there’s not a lot to be excited about these days. So this should be better, aye?
Well, not exactly. I can’t lie though, I’m surprised it took ’em this long to release a young cask strength expression.
Now…rumour* has it that this is 12-13 years old. Ummm…if you say so. It sure doesn’t drink like a dozen years. Is there 12 year old in it? Maybe. But this is no rounded and balanced dram. Blind, I’d guess more like 7 or 8. Probably to some folks’ liking, but I’ll pass on anything but a free dram.
Release No. 2. Sherry seasoned European & American oak casks. 63.9% abv
*Rumour = Whiskybase commentary
Tasting Notes
Nose: Mediocre, youthful, Highland Park. A fair few off notes, that do sort of softemn with a bit of time. Overripe fruits. Toasted marshmallow. Sour and maybe a tick puke-y. Heavy, boozy caramel. Palate: Burny, boozy, and the peat profile is slightly…burnt. A bit of decay. Slightly cloying and wine-y. A lot of spice and figgy notes. Not tooooo hot, all things considered. Drinks big, but not blindingly so. But definitely not ‘of age’, in my opinion. I think this is an experiment in hiding youth through active (seasoned?) casks and high abv. Finish: Not a great finish. A lot of time in the glass helps this one a lot, though. 76/100
All Things Whisky 
Hi there,
hello Curt. It is good to be back.
So the second edition is not better than the first, eh? I can sum up my impression of version one as a piece of fresh oak wood disolved in not too high quality neutral spirit.
Wood, wood and wood again is all I remember of it.
And you are right. Had the Vikings known about whisky they would have drunk themselves into oblivion. An endeavor taking much longer and harder to do with met or beer.
Greetings
kallakander
Good to be back, indeed. I can’t recall trying B1, but it sounds like things haven’t drastically improved. I think the Edrington group is really struggling under the weight of its own reputation. It seems as though their cask availability is much more limited than it once was (as if we didn’t already know that).
Used to be one of my top 5 distilleries as I loved the profile (and obviously bought into the marketing) of Heather honey and aromatic 🤦🏻♂️ peat. Even made the trip to Orkney to visit in 2016 (beautiful distillery grounds, lazy tour). Things have changed. Even my go-to basic malt of HP10 looks like it is discontinued, The recent HP12s are a mess and completely discordant, I refuse to spend $100 on any of their NAS, 46% releases (or $130+ on these CS NAS ones). I do regret not picking up on the Full Volume when it was around. But not many good options for HP fans anymore sadly.
Yeah. Hard to see our heroes humbled, sometimes. I miss the days when I held HP on a bit of a pedestal. There are some pretty interesting indies out there, though…
Saw this at the local store for $90.00 so decided to take a chance on it. My initial impression was not that great – it was mostly alcohol with a strong hit of cinnamon and just a bit of the HP signature heather note lingering in the background. The addition of water only made it all weaker. Put the cork back in and let it sit for 5 days before giving it a second try and now it’s MUCH improved. Now I get fruity sherry, some nice barrel char and a good amount of heather with a nice balance between sweet and bitter. There’s a bit of funk on the nose, but nothing too objectionable. Still lots of alcohol burn, but adding a fair amount of water tones that down and helps to open up the flavors. Finish is somewhat short and fades to saccharin sweetness. My impression is that this is likely made up primarily of 6 to 8 year old whisky put up in fairly decent casks. Good but not great.