Review #108: Highland Park "Einar" NAS, 40% abv, OB

duty-free blogging

Duty-free kind of sucks. You end up having to go through extra security checks. The prices are worse than back home, and the special bottlings are mysterious and generally inferior. (I should put in a link about that.) Maybe this is just the result of my particular situation: buying in the UK in general is lousy -- it's a shame, really, that it's so expensive.

Anyway, sometimes you end up with some currency left over, and it's certainly better to pick up a bottle of Highland Park than to get a few post-commission dollars back. This one is part of the inscrutable "Warriors" series. As far as I can tell, the more you pay, the higher the ratio of Spanish oak to American oak. None of them have an age statement.

The whisky has a rich copper color that probably came out of a bottle.

Nose: Canned fruit in syrup and some stinky peat. The fruit is pleasantly rich -- mostly peaches and pears, I think. The official notes say "pineapple," but that seems aspirational to me. The peat is somewhere in between fresh stable and old ashtray, leaning toward the latter, so that's good. There's a bit of sulfur, but so little it works as a seasoning. There are some winey dried fruits, too, and dry oak spices. A little bare alcohol, too, but overall it feels older than it probably is.

Palate: Nice oily/syrupy texture. There's probably some alcohol in there, too, but it's hard to tell. The peat stings a little and there's some marshmallowy fruit, but otherwise very very little is happening.

Finish: It's probably better to just drink some more.


This goes down very easily, and has its interesting moments. I don't know why they bottled a liter at 40% instead of a decent strength in a 70cl or 75cl bottle, but maybe it's more drinkable this way. In any case, very well assembled from probably very young stocks, so not a total waste of money (about GBP 45). An easy, enjoyable dram.

score: 83

(I like it better than the 12yr, actually.)

Review #91: Highland Park 17yrs 1995/2013, 53.9%, Edition Spirits, refill hogshead, 286 bottles

still looking for that single cask HP

The official bottlings can be so good, one might expect to find some spectacular casks. The parts seem to be much less than the sum of the whole -- and expensive -- but still it's worth looking for that one spectacular cask. Or at least something that shows the one true distillery character, behind all the blending and the sherry influence.

This is from Edition Spirits. Do they still exist, or were they folded into one of the Laings? Doesn't really matter.

nose: subtle, but very nice. lots of cooked apples and earthy smoke (if that made sense), then some peaches and plums, marshmallows, oats with yogurt, mown grass, something slightly medicinal (camphor), and something slightly floral (lily). all good things, but curiously lean.

palate: not as smoky as I expected. slightly oily texture, it's creamy fruit with a smoky burn. I'd swear there's a little rubbery sulfur in there, too, but where did it come from? is that just the peat asserting itself?

the finish finishes unmemorably.


Nice whisky, starting to develop some interesting flavors, probably could have spent more time in cask. The peat was distinctly present but slightly boring. I like it, but I'm still looking for that great cask of HP.

score: 85

Review #36: Highland Park 21yr, OB, 47.5%

smokier!

This is the 21yr old, which doesn't appear on the great ladder of sherryvats from other day. It wouldn't fit -- it's less sherried than the 18yr, I think. This was, I believe, originally intended as a duty-free special, but it proved to be so popular that it became permanent. It got even got watered down to 40% briefly, but now we're back at 47.5%

Smoke is much more prominent even than in the 12yr, and then a wave of fruits and white chocolate. Not the fresh apple of the 12yr, but sweet cherries and peaches. (well, some apple, too.) Something floral, too: yes, heather, but also sweeter spring flowers. A nice minerality, but it's overwhelmed by the sweeter notes. The sherry flavors -- figs and dried fruits -- are here, and mix with the peat and the oak to make a dusty, greasy, oily (as in machine), meaty whole.

A little weak on the palate initially, but the smoke holds its together. Then wave after wave of sweetness -- orchard fruits, dried fruits, toffees -- balanced by some oaky bitterness. Very long.

Crazy good for a regularly-produced official bottling!

score: 90

Review #35: Highland Park 12yr, OB, 43%

this is the 12yr.

here is a picture that I found really helpful:

it is from The Malt Desk, here. (That whole post is good.) As you can see, the 12yr has only 15-20% of first fill sherry casks in the mix. I believe it is also 3 yrs younger than the 15yr and 4 yrs younger than the 16yy (which doesn't even exist, but if it did, it would be 4yrs older, more or less.)



really nice, room-filling nose: apples, typical heathery peat, minerals, and sweet sherry fruit (prunes and baked pears). a little rubberiness, but no big deal.

sweet but a little watery on the palate, and the rubber comes to the front. it holds up pretty well, but there's not a whole lot going on.

the finish is better, with candied fruit and nice heathery smoke. not super long.

really well-made dram that knows what it is and does it well. at a higher strength and without the recent price increases, it would be quite lovable.

score: 82