Generously_Paul
Highland Park Fire Edition
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed
January 19, 2018 (edited January 21, 2018)
@LeeEvolved was gracious enough to send me several premium samples of Highland Park, and now that the current round of the Scottish Distillery Tour has concluded I figured that this is the perfect time to review them. So this will be part one of a four part HP review.
The Fire Edition was fully matured exclusively in ex port casks for 15 years, rather than a port finish that typically only lasts 1-2 years. Bottled at 45.2% ABV, natural color of an amber with a reddish hue, and I have a feeling that it is chill filtered.
The nose starts with sweet cinnamon candy. It’s Red Hots all the way, the chewy ones. Spicy oak with fruity port notes. Dark berries, caramel apples, plums, oranges, figs and a very light lemon citrus. Cinnamon chocolate, vanilla, toffee, maple syrup. A light coffee/mocha note. More cinnamon and a soft mint note. You’ll notice I didn’t mention peat or smoke. That’s because there really isn’t any to speak of. I know HP is known for light peating, but this is ridiculous.
The palate has a very strange arrival. It’s a strong and distinct flavor that for the life of me I cannot put into words. It’s maddening! Here’s what I can describe. Cinnamon and lots of it. Vanilla, milk chocolate, white chocolate. Slightly bitter red grapes, blueberries, raspberries. Warm oak, toffee and caramel. A touch of pepper and, what’s this...is it smoke? Yes, finally the barest trace of smoke, hidden underneath 8 pounds of cinnamon.
Light to medium bodied mouthfeel, oily, creamy and mouth coating.
The finish is strange. Some sips it disappears in a flash, other times it lingers for 10 minutes or more. Cinnamon is the predominant note on the finish, but there is also a little mint and a nondescript fruitiness.
This is a strange beast to be sure. Normally when you hear port maturation you think super sweet fruits and a thick mouthfeel. This is all cinnamon with the fruits playing second chair French horn. It’s also very non-HP with hardly any peat smoke and none of the tropical fruits I’ve come to expected. It really feels like a Glenmorangie experiment, but one that works fairly well. I like it. Now, is it $300 good? No, certainly not, but it’s still HP and they tend to command these prices lately. This is a 3.5-3.75, but I’m going to round up to 4 because of its uniqueness. Thanks for the sample Lee.
Cheers
Create Account
or
Sign in
to comment on this review
It’s really not a bad dram, just stupidly overpriced. Having said that, I am eager to move on from this one and into the other samples.
@Soba45 - man, I wish I had only bought a sample. I could’ve put the extra $300 towards something else...
Good review. Sounds interesting. looking forward to cracking open my sample :-)
@Generously_Paul - I still think to this day that the Valhalla Odin is the better of the port finished HPs. It’s only 1 year older (IIRC) but the port finish shines brighter, along with the smoky aspect. That bottle of Odin got so much better the deeper I got into the bottle that I was very sad the day I pulled the last dram from it. The Ice Edition is a different beast entirely, as well. It’s a heavy ex-bourbon whisky that hides its smoke as well. I think of the 2 I preferred the Ice, but if I was buying a bottle I’d save an extra $50-60 and hunt for a bottle of Odin. Sadly, it’s stocks have almost dried up here in the states and markets are asking $400. At that price, I just don’t know... Great review. Cheers.
I thought it was way over priced for what it offered. You can the 18 which is better and cheaper
Very good review - I've looked at this on the shelf a couple of times but not taken the plunge and from you descriptions I think I was right. Definitely sounds interesting, but not a profile that is attractive to me at all.