Highland Park Twisted Tattoo 16 Year

Love that what makes Highland Park doesn’t get lost here, but gets some added complexity from the aging in wine casks. There’s plenty of smoky peat, but vanilla, oak and some dried fruit come through as well. Full review here on my YouTube! https://youtu.be/tCfxH5xC-tw

Sweet and peppery on the nose. Spicy peach cobbler on the palate. Light smoke and bitter oak on the finish. This must be related to the Auchentoshan Three Wood. Cousins. Once removed. (AT)

On the heels of a good experience with the HP Full Volume, I'm going back to the well for another. The Twisted Tattoo is 16 years old and 46.7% ABV. At $100, the specs are quite similar to the Full Volume. Mix in some Spanish Rioja cask influence with the bourbon casks and that's what we're working with here. Let's get into it. Nose: Creamy vanilla custard and red fruit leap out of the glass. Cranberry, raisin, red grape, and apple. There's some honeydew. Caramel, butterscotch, cinnamon, and baking spice. Plenty of oak. Walnut and macadamia. Not a lot of peat or brine, but there is a hit of sulfur. It's all good stuff, but the sulfur is a little too prominent. Slight deduction for that, but it's still decent. Edit: This really opened up over time--I've given it about a year since the review. The sulfur notes have been suppressed and the fruit notes now flourish. Palate: There's still a bit of sulfur, but it's drowned out by a much welcome presence of peat smoke and brine. Sea salt. More of the honeydew, cranberry, and golden raisin. Lime and red grape. Heavy malt flavor with caramel, fudge, vanilla, coffee, butterscotch, and honey. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and white pepper. Some heavy oak. This is a great translation of the nose; all of the core notes are here, and the peat smoke and briny notes rectify the overly sulfuric nose. Finish: Moderate length, leaning toward short. Honeydew and red fruit. Raisin, cranberry, and grape are prominent at the beginning. Sulfur with some smoke and sea salt. Cinnamon and black bean red pepper chili. It's a spicy one, and reflects a respectable proof. A touch of dark chocolate to balance things out at the end. Finally, more of the nutty and oaky notes. Good stuff. This is a good whisky. The first I ever recall having that's been aged in Rioja casks. Yet, this captures the classic HP spirit. It makes for a nice combination. It's got its flaws, especially on the nose, but it drinks well and checks many of my boxes. This one clocks in right in the range of the HP 15 and the HP Full Volume 17. I give a slight edge to those two, but this is just a hair behind them. And that considers age, price, and proof. If you're a Highland Park fanatic, this is an easy buy. Otherwise, I'd consider this an experimental purchase. HP seems to be making a concerted effort to shed its reputation as a producer of over-priced NAS malts that exploit an adopted Viking heritage. Over the past year, I've reviewed the 12 year CS Riptide, the 17 year Full Volume, and now this. I'm happy to see the distillery adjust to (admittedly deserved) criticism. The Twisted Tattoo is worth its salt, and to that I say a job well done.