Highland Park 10 Year Rebus

Oh, Highland Park! I thought to myself when my buddy @Generously_Paul sent me a pour of this themed, 10yo release from 2017. Is this another subpar release where they use some crazy, Viking-esque type of label and packaging? Well, sort of, but I can give them a pass this time for the theming- and I actually thought the whisky was okay, as well. Rebus 30 is a 10 year old whisky (kind of confusing, ain’t it?) that was released to honor a fictional crime novel character who was celebrating his 30th year of existence. Highland Park joined with writer Ian Rankin for the 20th anniversary release back in 2007 with a release called Knots & Crosses- so, this line of bottles isn’t HP’s way of cashing in like the Viking lineage. There is an established history with this release- so, I’ll give them a pass on the theming. How is the actual whisky? That’s what we’re here to find out... First of all, it’s bottled at 40% ABV and it’s chill filtered and probably has added coloring. It’s new gold in color and very oily. Slow forming, skinny legs fall down the sides of your Glencairn followed by heavy, runny drops after a healthy spin. The nose has an odd, barnyard funk right off the bat, smoke is also mysteriously absent. Sherry cask flavors and honey-dipped berries and cereal malt form the crux of the whisky after a few minutes resting in the glass. Like a good mystery novel, this whisky is leading you down a strange path in its early chapters. The palate strikes right away with honeycomb, toasted almonds, dry roast peanuts and very light, sherry sweetness. Again, the smoke is still MIA on the front end. Some minerality and earthy peat creep in on the backside of the tongue. There’s no campfire smoke or briny characters in the mix. It’s oily and full on the tongue but lacking in barrel spice and heat because the ABV is too low. Drinkability is up, but it doesn’t feel as though there’s much whisky in my whisky, and that’s the ultimate reason this whisky gets lower marks. The finish should be where the novel (whisky) reveals its twist, but this isn’t M Night Shamalayan, it’s a British guy so...it’s still rather tame. There is a tiny bit of smoke, but it’s closer to barrel char than smoldering, campfire embers. It’s also short, weak and a little unfulfilling. Some lingering berry sweetness is detected but it fades quickly and rather harmlessly. So, how do I score this thing? Well, I don’t want to penalize it for it’s theming- I’m cool with paying homage to a British crime author. At least it’s a break from the unrelenting Viking stuff. The 10yo age statement doesn’t add or hurt the score either. The best part about this is that it’s funkier than most HP stuff. I can appreciate that, I guess. I can’t give it a boost for complexity because thats not in the cards, either. All these factors accounted for- I say this is a 3-3.25 star release. This whisky just isn’t mysterious enough to make you read more into it (puns galore). It’s a cool enough bottle for the HP fanboys, but everyone else can shrug this one off and look elsewhere. Thanks again Paul, for the sample. Cheers. • also, Paul has a humorous, video review for this very whisky over on his YouTube channel- Dapper Drams. Check it out if you’d like to see (better) tasting notes from him and watch his brother just struggle, in general, with being new to scotch whisky.

Here we have one of the seemingly endless releases from Highland Park of late. This is a 10 year old that was released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Inspector John Rebus, a fictional character from Scottish author Ian Rankin. Now, I have absolutely no knowledge of this character or author whatsoever, but a couple years ago I entered into a drawing to win the chance to buy this bottle directly from HP and won. Little did I know at the time, but the distilleries in Scotland won’t deliver to the US. I was a little peeved, but I let it go...until I saw them at auction a while back. I would have my revenge on whoever it was that was responsible for me not being able to have this bottle initially. So for about $45 I was able to get it (I think the price from HP was around $40 so I didn’t pay much of a premium for it on the secondary market). Bottled at 40% ABV and is chill filtered and natural color of yellow gold. I seem to recall seeing something about there being 10,000 bottles released, but I could be way off on that. Speaking of bottles, this is a black bottle, which should be outlawed for obvious reasons. The nose is very earthy with vegetal peat, a very savory/umami profile. Some light sherry, Worcestershire sauce, cooked celery and water chestnuts. Faint smoke, sherried oak, raisins and figs. This is a very odd profile for HP, not like any of the others I’ve had. Pickled ginger, pineapple and teriyaki. It shifts to a more citrus fruit profile with lime, kiwi and lemon custard. Creamy vanilla, grassy/hay, lightly malty at times, heavily at other times. Caramel and Maple notes come and go. There’s also somewhat of a mineral/coastal note like seashells. The palate is very odd. Vegetal, savory, oak and earthy. Very light fruits like raisins, coconut, apricot skins, plums and dried pineapple. Faint smoke - just a whiff. A bit tannic and bitter at times, sweet at other times with hints of toffee and honey. A light bodied mouthfeel that is thin and creamy. The finish is medium short with peat, vegetal and distant fruits. Not at all what I was expecting from HP. Very different than their usual profile. A good value, but an average scotch. At times it showed some good flavors, but mostly it’s anemic and underwhelming. 3.25 Cheers