Highland Park 25 Year (Spring 2019)

Highland Park recently changed their marketing strategy, and not-so-lately they have created this bottles that have a viking style carved in the glass. After doing that, they re-released all of their expressions, and most of them aren't too expensive as you would expect from a top distillery. This is the case of this 25yo, 2019 release, which i believe that is not super expensive, or at least it wasn't when it was first released. Bottled at 46%abv, it has been matured in both bourbon and sherry casks. On the nose, it starts with oranges, and then you get the heather but not peat. Red fruits, flowers, Alka Setzer. After a first sip, the aroma changed into grass and smoke. Povydone. On the palate, it is a bit dry; Paper, raw rice, hay and burnt grass. Bitter and grassy. Salty lip destroying. On the second sip: Red fruits; it changed a lot on this sip, to a fruitier, nicer profile. On the third sip i got cherries. It  improved in every sip. Aftetaste is all about a dim aromatic smoke and salt. Also cherry syrup. Overall, i believe this is a very enjoyable dram, but it lacks emotion, and i truly think that you should get a better whisky for a 25 year old offering. My score for this dram is 89 over 100, which feels a little bit dissapointing.

Nose: Honey that has been stored in an oak barrel, very light traces of vanilla, mild floral fragrances, enveloping dusky orange, apricot preserve, orange marmalade. Leather armchair, old oak sideboard and a hint of cigar smoke. As it rests it gains complexity and the delicate smoke note becomes a little more assertive. Palate: Perfect arrival – slightly sweet, and gaining sweetness and depth as it unfolds. Stewed and fresh fruit, particularly blood orange and currants, but the sweetness is simmering and slow-burn, not bright and immediate. Chocolate and toffee in the development along with liquorice and prunes with just the lightest touch possible of peat smoke. There is a presence of spices and spicy herbs (mustard, cress, rocket and clove) and the texture is good, somewhat chewy, and with water it gains creaminess. Finish: Medium/long. The palate fades gently into a lightly maritime aftertaste with echoes of the mustard spice note and cigar smoke. A wonderful nose that is relaxed, urbane and rewarding. It has that dusky, dusty oxidised lignan quality that old whiskies typically show. The smoke is very reserved here, lacking any phenolic or guaiacol notes whatsoever, but the subtle cigar quality is pervasive. For some time after finishing the dram you have a definite mouth taste as of just having smoked one. The palate has complexity, but not to the degree you might wish for. In some ways it is a limited profile but what is there is very good indeed. The finish is good. Adding just a small dash of water mellows and broadens the entire experience. The dried orange and spice notes both gain softness and the texture becomes more silken. The finish gains a little heft, and there is the most interesting sensation when breathing out of genuinely feeling like you are smoking. A lovely whisky, but if you have the good fortune to try this do not rush the experience. Give it at least 15 minutes in the glass to wake up, and if adding a drop of water (which you should) give it another 15 to recompose itself. Those are bare minimums - ideally sit, nose and ponder this for an hour before taking the first sip. There is nothing to be gained by haste and everything from patience. Great stuff, but overpriced in my opinion. This is not light years ahead of the 18 year old, in fact it’s more like a sideways step than an advance, so I’m giving it the same rating. Tasted from a 30ml sample generously provided by @DrRHCMadden “Excellent” : 89/100 (4.75 stars)

Highland Park 25 Year Old Spring 2019 Release has been created from fewer than 20 sherry seasoned European oak casks, first-fill ex-bourbon casks and refill casks, hand-selected by their Master Whisky Maker, Gordon Motion, from a small treasure of suitable casks.  Half way through now, with many drams shared to family, but a moment of contemplation this evening to update these tasting notes with a solid pour. N: Bright and warming with citrus, wafts of herbaceous floral smoke, maltiness and a fruit juice sweetness and a softening vanilla-fudge note. P: Dried fruits from the sherry cask, but balanced with toffee, gingerbread, vanilla. All underpinned by charry BBQ steak. F: Medium. Slightly sweet smoke with floral savoury flavour. Briny sea-spray. This a whisky that brings complexity, depth of flavour and delicate refinement. The softness of the toffee-vanilla profile is expertly measured against the wonderful BBQ char, floral-herbal smoke and sea spray brine. It’s almost a chewy mouthful, like biting into meat straight from the grill. But, this still demands respect and time to consider and discover. I’d say its time well spent. Sadly though, this isn’t a five stars for me. It’s unquestionably good, to me, but it lacks something. Perhaps I expected something more for 25 years from the esteemed Highland Park, but the magic is missing. When this bottle is gone, I don’t think it’s something I’ll pine for to replace, and so it just isn’t 5 stars. Highland Park heralds as a whisky shaped by wild climate, stormy seas and Viking exploration dating back over 1000 years. But, this whisky dates back further. The Orkney Islands are dominated by the Devonian Old Red Sandstone. These rocks are the 400 million year old natural aquifers responsible for filtering the water used by the distillery that is drawn from Cattie Maggie’s spring. Distiller whisky taste #51 Bottle kill pour 03/11/2022 After pouring 60 ml into a mini bottle to save for later I emptied the last drops to enjoy for the last time in what I suspect will be a very long time. This time around after leaving the pour in a glass for twenty minutes I start nosing… N: honey becomes apparent, I missed that last time. Still bright and warming but now the citrus is slightly more bitter like marmalade. The smoke adds a slightly leathery or tobacco note. Perhaps this is the oxidation at work. Well, it works very well. The previously noted vanilla, and juicy malt are here still and backed by the same delicious floral peat smoke. P: Same as last time. Rich dried fruit, gingerbread, some vanilla. There is lovely sweetness and maybe some newly discovered creaminess, not chocolate per se but a mouthfeel reminiscent of it. The smoke is so restrained, so gentle and so deliciously sticky like BBQ meat glaze. I find this a little more prickly now, similar to really crisp rocket leaves. F: Still medium. Slightly salty with gentle smoke and savoury feel. The new rocket leaves are slightly present still. The addition of a splash of water given yet more time brings out the orange on the nose with less bitterness and more of a fresh orange being squeezed. The most notable development though is the smoke which just gets bigger, more weighty and forceful. The smoke does this without diminishing anything else. Wonderful stuff. This really is excellent. It is, you can’t deny it. But its still not filling me with the excitement I would want for $999! So its not perfect to me. What I remember of the 18, or perhaps even some of the cask strength 01 or 02 bottles I’ve heard good things about, would serve as admirable alternatives at a 1/4 of the cost.