[Revisited 1/2016] Aroma opens with bracing salt air, sweet caramelized onions, gentle dry sherry along with its sulfur, bitter honey, dry charred oak, light peat smoke, new leather, hints of seaweed covered rocks at low tide. Disintegrates with added water, I'd leave it at 43%. Assertive on the palate with dry oak, then a soft wash of savory buckwheat honey. Medium length finish, smoke returns. Slightly bitter in a mature way. A satisfying malt, but not quite as I remember it... As my palate develops and I move further into Peated/Islay malts, Highland Park's level of smoke now seems somewhat anemic... The sherry sulfur is also more pronounced in this batch. It's slipped from my top shelf, but still an excellent dram for new whisky explorers! Dry glass: malt and chocolate syrup...