Generously_Paul
Highland Park Cask Strength Edition (Scandinavian Release)
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed
April 18, 2020 (edited October 15, 2020)
It's been a while since my last review. It's been nearly a month since Michigan put the Stay Home, Stay Safe order in place and you'd think that I would take this time to really dive into the reviews. This has not been the case. Instead I've been just making mixed drinks and relaxing. Well it's time to break that up a bit.
I received this bottle of HP Cask Strength, which looks different from the bottle in the listing (the bottle creation function doesn't seem to be working at the moment). This one, from what information I can gather, is likely batch 3 of the cask strength expression and may or may not have been exclusive to the Swedish market. It comes in at a hefty 63% ABV, its non chill filtered and natural color of a dark amber with orange hues. I got this bottle from @LeeEvolved for Christmas 2019.
The nose is potent, a lot of alcohol at first and very boozy. Quite closed off at first, but it comes around. Tangerines and a sweaty/earthy funk. Eucalyptus, light sherry, vanilla and green grapes..
Had to add some water. It becomes much fruitier with a touch of warmed sherry. The tangerines and vanilla are more pronounced, but also some raspberries and strawberries and grape skins. Buttery/fatty and waxy. Light toasted oak, walnuts, fudge and spicy chocolate. Roasted malt, caramel and honey with a light grassy note. Adding water is the way to go here.
The palate neat is HOT. Intense tropical fruits like mango, papaya, oranges and pineapple. Too intense to enjoy past the first couple sips.
Adding water really helps. It takes away most of the heat and the tropical fruits remain, however they are much more enjoyable. A slight smoky note and some barrel char. Sweet but not sugary sweet, more of a fruity sweet. Spicy oak, honey, a bit tannic and a hint of lemon/lime.
A full bodied mouthfeel that is hot, thick, syrupy and mouth coating neat. Medium full bodied, oily, mouth coating and mouthwatering with water added.
The finish is long with honey and sweet heat neat. Medium long with wood spice, fruity and honey with water added.
While the flavors are very intense and concentrated at cask strength, it's just too intense to enjoy. Taking it down to around 46% (or thereabouts as I don't have a hydrometer) is the sweet spot for this guy. Even down past 46% into scotch mist territory beats straight out of the bottle for me. Overall it's young, a bit rough, but still delicious and enjoyable if you do some experimenting with water. Neat I would only give this a 3.25, but hitting the sweet spot bumps it up to a 3.75.
Cheers.
You can check this one out on the Dapper Drams YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/sQVsrfFLMv0
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@LeeEvolved You have a solid point about tasting it as the master blender intended. If a bottle comes with some random number like 47.9%, then I assume the master blender put a lot of work into finding just that number. For BiB and CS of course, the master blender is somewhat limited by the designation. Also, congrats on your success with blending! I have a lot of fun with it, but I continually find it to be much more challenging than I expect.
@ContemplativeFox - how did I not see and Like this review initially? I know I read this as soon as @Generously_Paul posted it. I’m gonna chalk it up to a Distiller app bug. As far as the water debate, I don’t like to add water to anything unless it’s a strong bottle that I’m having trouble finishing off or I’m really intrigued at what it may add to the nosing, specifically, as I prefer to taste everything the way the master blender intended: good or bad. There was an experiment a did for a few months at the end of 2018: I had duplicate bottles of whisky I wasn’t impressed with so I tried my hand at blending. I used water quite liberally for that... to reasonable success, I might add.
@Generously_Paul I totally agree. I was trying the Amrut CS a couple weeks ago and found this awesome sweet spot between regular strength and CS that really brought out the complexity. It's always fun and I feel like that justifies a CS purchase. When I have to water it down to essentially regular strength, I'm usually disappointed since there's usually a premium charge for the CS beyond what the additional alcohol justifies.
@ContemplativeFox the endless debate of adding water to whisky 😂. Some bottles I can enjoy at near or above 60%, while others will melt my face under 50%. It’s those times when you realize how important the job of the master blender truly is
Huh, if you have to water it down to 46%, it kind of seems like what's the point of being CS. Still sounds pretty good though :)
@Generously_Paul I tasted an earlier batch and never got to like it. They sold it in Norway as well, but only the ones below 60% ABV (anything above is considered 'dangerous' and hence illegal in Norway).