Highland Park Dark Origins

Tobacco aftertaste. Quite creamy mouthfeel, nice and full bodied. Sherry comes through nicely.

Reaching the end of this bottle and it sounds like it has been taken out of the core range, too bad. Nose: Dried fruits, to me it is dried strawberries and cherry. I hint of that HP smoke, gentle and floral. Palate: The dried fruits continue to the palate with some vanilla and the gently heather smoke of HP. The sherry shows here but is not overpowering, for a NAS a nice blend of some old with new so the malt still makes an appearance. Nice balance. Finish: Medium. I’m happy this is higher than 40% ABV so you get a little bit of lingering finish, but nothing like a cask strength whiskey. Overall a 3.75 for me.

If I’m not mistaken, this was part of Highland Park’s core range at one time. It did not survive the distillery’s viking-rebranding effort. Fortunately, I was able to nab a dusty old bottle of this before it was too late. Let’s turn back the clocks with HP. Nose: Heavy citrus and red fruit. Lime and orange. Huge cranberry note. Black cherry. Honeydew, apple, and pineapple. Raisin, date, and fig. Sun-dried tomato. Cocoa and pipe smoke. Vanilla, butterscotch, and toffee. Brine and seaweed with a touch of peat and campfire smoke. A touch of black bean, red pepper chili. Palate: Gala apple, cranberry, raspberry, cherry, strawberry, raisin, date, and fig. Chestnut and plum. The first-fill sherry is very prominent. Caramel and milk chocolate. Malt and toffee. Almond. Wintergreen. Vanilla. A combination of barrel smoke/campfire with some sea salt and soft pretzel. Lime, orange peel, and honeydew. Black pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Finish: Seaweed, sea salt, black bean and red pepper chili. Cola, raisin, date, fig, apple, raspberry, strawberry, and plum. Honeydew, lime, and pineapple. Black currant. Vanilla, toffee, and malt. Chestnut, almond, and oak. Black pepper, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. Moderate-long finish. Dark Origins offers a solid combination of first-fill sherry and bourbon barrel-aged HP. I won’t pretend that this is something I would’ve come up with on my own, but I will say that this cask combination lends itself a successful marriage with the Highland Park spirit. At $70, I definitely feel that I got my money’s worth. Especially considering that this expression was long-discontinued when I bought it. There’s a lot going on, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some long-aged whisky in here despite its NAS status. 4/5. Solid stuff from HP. I’m very glad I managed to get one.

Not a huge Highland Park fan but I really like this one. Very nice nose and the sherry is definitely there. It cuts the peat a little but not all. Even though it’s NAS it still drinks a little older to me. Really good!