Highland Park The Dark 17 Year

Big, smoky, sherried, and bold...this is a delicious bacon of a whisky, with warm chocolate notes, dark-almost-black cherries, and aged, well-maintained leather. Not a starter dram, but if you like Highland Park, and it’s winter with a fire nearby (preferably with a large dog at your feet), please know that this is an excellent choice to perfect the evening.

2019.06.18

One of 12 1/2 or 1/4 oz pours drammers club. Very nice sherry and tropical fruit combination with notes of raspberry, coconut, citrus, banana, chocolate, and caramel.

Lovely caramel nose. A treat

Amazing, perfect, astonishing, an absolute masterpiece. An absolute must-have scotch. Highland Park absolutely knocked it out of the park with this gem.

Very peaty version of highland park 18

Nose - (w/o water) Light smoke, white wine like sweetness, dark stone fruit syrup (w/ water) Opens up quite a bit more, dark cocoa nibs come out, mixes with a dark sweet sherry, hint of leather Taste - (w/o water) Sweet white pepper tingle, light orange zest, light smoke, sweet lightly bitter dark stone fruits, tannic/bitter dark chocolate (w/ water) Tingle is gone, light orange zest, drying dark cocoa nibs, less sweet dark stone fruits, smoke is almost gone. Finish - (w/o water) Lingering warmth, light fruity tannic bitter, charred citrus pith bitter, drying bitter dark cocoa nibs (w/ water) More quickly fading, fruity bitter orange/cherry/dark chocolate, cocoa nib bitter, light smoke re-appears at the very very end. Score - 81/100 Final Thoughts - I didn't know what to expect with this one but I was expecting a bit more character out of this one. I got nice hints of sweet dark stone fruits on the nose, but it was quite muted. Some water opened up the nose quite nicely. Once it hit the palate it was a bit hot, the dominating flavor profile was this lightly sweet but very drying and tannic dark cocoa nib flavor that was a bit distracting from the sweet dark stone fruits I was expecting. Luckily I do enjoy dark cocoa nibs, but I wouldn't imagine that should be the dominating flavor. Overall it was tasty, but just not very well balanced. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - No Would I buy a bottle? - No