ScotchingHard
Highland Park Einar
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed
August 16, 2017 (edited August 17, 2017)
Just what is Highland Park doing? I have a theory that you can walk into a Duty Free and tell what distilleries are lost to people who truly appreciate liquor for the sole reason that they love to drink liquor. The only reason for a travel retail exclusive (TRE) is to appeal to people who like liquor for other reasons. When you release about a dozen TREs, you tell me that your casks now suck, but you would still like to earn money unscrupulously from vacation-drunken travelers. Highland Park has gone Viking mad. This isn’t even Norse mythology – the actual word they are looking for is “Einherjar,” but I guess that’s less marketable.
NOSE: It’s Highland Park with water. Heather, oranges, honey, followed by some sherry notes. Like a weak 12 year old – the normal one – because I noticed they Viking’d up the new 12 year old. I bet it’s compensation for a decrease in quality.
PALATE: Sherry flavors on the arrival, but a weak body. Watery, jarred fruits: dark grapes, berries. The only smoke is a faint burnt orange peel in tea flavor. Not bad, but not nearly as good as the 12.
FINISH: There really is none. Certainly nothing that reminds you that you had just sipped a Highland Park.
VERDICT: It’s not worth the price of the bottle. I had some while watching Netflix “Valhalla Rising.” What a fucked up movie. The movie was too strong for this fake whisky, and I switched to Laphroaig CS. Much more appropriate. Highland Park used to be one of my favorite distilleries. This saddens me. MARK: 74/100.
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Yeah, I think it was 50 for a whole liter. Not terrible return. It's as they say "sippable"; like a soft drink. Have it with popcorn. Movie pairing would be mainstream fluff like Marvel's Thor.
That's disappointing to hear. I bought a bottle of this a few months ago. Will be opening it in a couple weeks too. I think I paid around $50 for it so it's not a total loss if it's bad.
You are certainly right about Highland Park's extensive NAS/TRE range. 90% of malts offered at airports are simply rubbish. I hardly waste my time to check the offers anymore. Highland Park is massively overbranded (same as Ardbeg), and I can only hope that the quality of their 12-, 18- and 25-year-old Single Malts will pass the test of time.
Love Nikka From the Barrel. Why do they only sell it in 500 ml size? I hate duty free, it always causes me stress. Should I? Shouldn't I? Is the wife looking? 😀
🔥🔥 I. I. Get the torches, boys! Somebody is bashing Highland Park! I'll get the anti-graffiti cleaner and scrub Distiller of this blasphemy! You guys know what to do when you catch him...
Nikka Whiskey from the Barrel is amazingly good, especially considering the price. Reminds me a lot of the Hibiki 12. ( Lee/Paul/Scott----the Nikka is in our lineup)
Agree that travel retail is a total crapshoot, it's like the roll the dice effect of no age statement releases multiplied by 10. The only thing I buy at airports is Nikka Whisky from the Barrel (not available in US) and Lagavulin 16 (so much cheaper in Europe/UK).
I think TRE is about a $800B market, driven mainly by Asia and Middle East. And basically a two horse game between Diageo and Pernod. So, in essence, they use that to try out innovations, as well as SKUs that might not do so well otherwise. The TRe innovations portion is pretty good ( like the Balvenie Peated or Laphroaig PX); key is---how do you tell the difference between the innovation and dumping ground?