Tastes

If you were stuck with only one single malt for the rest of your days, you could do a lot worse than Highland Park 12. It just hits that sweet spot between faded sherry and honeyed peat smoke so perfectly that I always wonder why so few other distilleries attempt to fit the niche. For me, there may be more refined single malts, but at the price it’s five stars all the way (and I’d add that the 18 is good but NOT almost 3x better than this, which is how much you’ll probably pay in comparison). The cheesy new bottle and Viking marketing don’t do this whisky justice.

Highland Park 18 is great and all, but I've tried it side-by-side with the 12 year and would describe it as a further refinement of the characteristics already present here: honey, heather, a really pleasantly balanced amount of peat and barrel smoke, a delightful echo of refill sherry casks, and a wee bit of brine. While I certainly do appreciate the elevated smoothness and complexity offered by the 18, the 12 costs almost a third the price and the 18's not 3x better. This is a core single malt and one of the best values available--grab a bottle of the 18 for special occasions, but buy bottle after bottle of the 12--that's my plan, at least!

This shit is incredible! The wine finish refines the sharpness from the base 12 year and supplements the already thick body with an even fuller, round fruitiness. I love the other Distillers Editions I've had, but this one is truly greater than the sum of its parts and elevates the normal Caol Ila range to something really special. Hard to find in the US but worth an online order from the U.K. Or whatever you have to do to get ahold of a bottle.

On the nose, this whiskey is a total raisin bomb with sherry notes utterly dominating. You might guess at this point that a heavy sherry profile is not my jam. Luckily, the palate is full of much more whisky flavor, with a nice full Highland profile that balances the sherry notes a lot more than the nose would have you believe. It's not especially refined but it's certainly not bad. For my tastes, I prefer something with a bit more complex flavor and subtler sherry contribution (Highland Park 12), or something where it's integrated a little better like Redbreast 12.