Highland Park 40 Year

In my recent visit to Scotland, i went to the super famous Craigellachie Hotel, home of one of the world's most famous whisky collections. There i took a wonderful picture with two of the Glenfarclas Pagoda Bottles, ruby and Sapphire, and then something shiny stood up and i saw it... a bottle of HIGHLAND PARK 40 YEARS OLD. Love it or hate it, Highland Park is one epic distillery with super releases. Yes, sometimes marketing strategies have given unrealistic expectations for some of their special bottlings, and yes, they have released a lot of expressions lately. That does not make it a bad whisky, nor a hated one. Matured for 40 long years, this has been bottled at 48.3%abv, matured in refill casks. On the nose, a heather elegance. The aroma is exactly as putting out a cigarrette, very fancy. There is red fruitiniess, cherry ans Hershey's straberry syrup. A second sip gave me coffee and a mix of red fruits. Toffee with milk. On the palate, it is very light and gentle. Red fruits, the peatiness is rising after a couple of seconds.Feels like a cask strength because of a pepper bomb that has appeared out of nowhere. Cigarrettes, prunes. LOTS OF FLAVORS AND LAYERS, sawdust. Perfect score here. Aftertaste is wonderful. Cigarrettes, sawdust, bonfire, but also red fruits and syrup. Sweet and peaty. It is the most complex Highland Park ever. Ginger spice. Overall, there is a reason why you shouldn't mix 40yo whiskies with anything. They have been developing phenols, particles of high alcohols, cresols and Guaiacols for a long time to become super complex. The usage of refill casks was a good idea, since newer casks can impart too much oaky notes in such a long time. I believe this is not the perfect whisky, but it gets very close. The palate was superb, but the wonderful nose and aftertaste couldn't reach that high ceiling that the palate created. My score for it is 97 over 100.

So... I have chosen a special whisky on a special day to write my first review. Today I have turned 40 and so Highland Park 40 seemed as the perfect whisky to celebrate the date. Don't have the $$$$ to afford a whole bottle so review was made on a sample I brought back from a tasting me and my girlfriend did this year at the distillery. On the nose I can strangely pick a strong brine note with a mellow but pleasant sweet sherry background of dark ripe fruits. Kind of reminded me a lot of Talisker 30 but not as refined. Just a little bit of gentle peat and no smoke. On the palate the brine and sweet sherry give way to peat (come back from the dead) and lots, and I mean lots of Barrel Spices. On the finish the brine is back, now more salty, and there is also a strong astringency (dryness) feeling, probably from the long contact with the wood tannins. Not a bad whisky in any way but if you compare it to the 30 and specially the 25, that are more than amazing and cost SO less money, I would not say it is a wise buy. A four star if you don't take the price into account. Otherwise a 3 stars (barely).