Highland Park 18 Year

88 Aroma: Pronounced smoky notes combined with a salty tang, enriched by luscious honey and a vibrant fruity character. Palate: A smooth texture featuring distinct nutty flavors and a maritime influence reminiscent of seaweed. Finish: A long and dry finish with lingering impressions of savory smoked bacon. 4.25/4.5/4.5 2026.03.17 Arrange, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

Kenmerkende Highland Park stijl. De 18 is wat complexer dan de 12. Licht ziltig peatje. Maar heel veel prijzer dan de 12. Dat verschil is ie me niet direct waard.

A revisit, and this time with notes! Nose starts of with clear cigar ash, then cut apples, honeycomb cereal (think light honey, with a little dry, dusty, malt grain). What started dirty with the cigar ash has gone sweet, leaving the smoke but an afterthought. A few more minutes and now there's hot, dark caramel and brown butter. Really very nice to nose this. Palate is smooth and rich, very pleasing without being creamy or oily, with Golden Delicious apples transitioning to pears and honeydew and cracked barley to form a wonderful fruit medley that is perfectly balanced between tart and sweet. A few seconds of sweet on the tongue opens the door for the polite but pronounced entrance of briny salt spray which offers a savory balance to the fruits before shortly transitioning to a medium-long closing where the fruits are absent but the cigar smoke comes back and you realize it's actually been there all along, neatly tying the whole thing together from first nose to final close. Very, very good, and one that everyone should try if given the chance.

definitely let this sit too low for a bit too long but this beauty was a hard one to kill. Nose: sweet smoke, sea spray dark cherries, candied orange peel, sweet and earthy sherry. Dark honey (carrot or meadowfoam), a rich dark chocolate begins to emerge alongside an almost dark vanilla bean? Palate: Gentle, almost floral peatiness. A nice sea spray throughout the whole palate. Dark cherries appear here too, alongside the candied orange peel. I've gotten some apple from this before but not getting it quite as much here now. Finish: gently warming, dark fruits, a floral thread remains here too. Moderately dry, medium length.

Nose: crisp orchard apple, a very gentle coastal peat with a splash of salt air. Floral honey. Cinnamon, caramel, dried black cherries/plum. Elegant. Sherry influence is strong but doesn't come through in an overly syrupy or earthy way. Palate: a symphony of flavor. Begins with a nice fresh orchard fruit/apple tone, leads to sweet caramel and vanilla on the mid palate transitioning into a touch of candied orange peel balanced with a coastal/sea breeze salinity and touch of smoke. Finish: mild salinity, numbing oak tannin, warm and moderatelt long.