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By: Jeffrey Jones | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 7/28/2023 | Send Email
This single cask is for people who love sherry barrel aged single malts. There are wonderful smoke and fruit aromas in the nose. In the mouth, it is lively, juicy and full bodied with a strong sherry barrel influence. With a little water, there is the same taste profile but a little softer and more open.
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By: Michael Pires | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 7/26/2023 | Send Email
Limited to 599 bottles. This is a must grab for any Highland Park fans! A rich and complex offering from Highland Park with notes of candied orange, smoke, peat, caramel malt, stone fruit, baking spices and cacao nibs. The sherry character has integrated perfectly with the over proof whisky. This whisky is intense (66.1% ABV), but opens up over time. Adding a few drops of water will mellow it out and open it up, but it is also fantastic straight.
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By: Andrew Whiteley | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 7/26/2023 | Send Email
This is a powerhouse single cask from Highland Park. It's the kind of exceptional cask that provides so much oomph that it could easily have been the glue to hold an entire batch together for HP. It's a miracle they sold it to us as a single cask and at a sharp price to boot. It will simply overpower your senses upon first pour. 66.1% ABV straight out of the bottle is just a little too high. With time in glass, it opens dramatically. The color is stunning deep red copper. The nose is a complex and densely packed amalgam of roasted nuts, toffee, dark chocolate nibs, glazed donut, nougat, sun dried fruits, and a bevy of exotic spices all underpinned by a bed of roasted malt and covered in a blanket of gentle smoke. The first sip at cask strength will bowl you over, blow you up, and generally knock you out. It's flavorful, but nearly impossible to tease apart. Add a healthy dollop of branch water, swirl, and sit. The rewards are great. The heather florals in the smoke come forward, plum compote provides more fruit sweetness, that dark chocolate takes a slightly sweeter turn without loosing its power - like going from 90% dark cocoa to 72%. More candied citrus comes forward, the sweet baking spices remain but also add a complex tobacco leaf component. Texturally, it's still massive and rich but the intense alcohol is gone, the European oak has imparted so much stuffing to this whisky, you can proof it at will to however you like it and you'll still have an amazing weighty and characterful spirit. The finish is long, the perfect balance between sweet spice, hot cinnamon, savory peat, sweet fruit, and gentle smoke. By every measure this cask is an A+. It is simply one of the best we've seen from Highland Park (and the entire Edrington portfolio).
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By: David Othenin-Girard | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 7/22/2023 | Send Email
These OB Highland Parks that they've been releasing are some of the most intense and complex malts coming stateside. It felt like they we're just going to keep getting more and more expensive, but we've managed to find this awesome little casks for an altogether reasonable price. Dark euro oak from a blue chip distiller for $120 at full cask strength (66%!!!) for under $120? It's bucking the current trend of no limit price increases of rare whisky for sure. Let's taste! It's a gorgeous chestnut oloroso shade. The nose is big but you can tell still wound up in that high proof. Let it sit. zzzzzz. OH yay! 20 minutes later its firing up nicely. Dense nutty oloroso character, dark roasted baking spices, old teak furniture, sweet strawberry jam, chocolate covered raisins. It really needs air though don't forget. One the palate it's screaming on the palate absolute tarry in texture. Big spice-y oak, dark cherries, nutty toffee, juicy sherry character. It's super intense, but the tannin isn't overpowering and the powerful euro oak is balanced with the perfect earthy peat note. It does make me want to reach for the water to open her up. The first drop unleashes leather, chocolate, sweet dark berries, softens the oak on the nose considerably. Adding a bit more water. Again some time needed after water for it all to open properly. Wow, not the palate is absolutely bangin'. Holds the texture extremely well with two small dollops of water. The edgy-ness is gone and the deep complex sherry plays wonders with the gorgeous HP malt. This is an advanced contemplative malt that rewards the patient immensely. Sure it taste great right out of the bottle, but if you can keep from hammering the glass down, there's considerable nuance and unbelievable depth. It feels more multilayered than some of our previous casks, even at the lower price and age. It's kind of weird to me that these don't sell out instantly there's almost nothing on the market like it at this price point. The closet thing of similar price and quality would be one of the single barrel Glendronach's and those sell out in an instant. This is every bit as complex and intensely sherried as those wonderful malts and similarly priced. If you want to be ahead of the curve grab this one now before the rest of the world figures it out.
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By: Neal Fischer | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 7/19/2023 | Send Email
That 66.1% ABV makes this cask look like a bit of a bruiser, but give it some time (and maybe a few drops of water) and you'll warm up to it. The nose has SO MUCH dark honey, and I love it. Toasted oats roll through with buttered rye toast, chocolate, dark orchard fruit, and a slight floral note. The palate begins roasty-toasty, incorporating salted dark caramels, dried berries, and cherries. This dram gets very nutty in the mid palate with earthy and leathery notes as well. This is a powerful cask of Highland Park getting a proper Sherry treatment.
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By: Will Blakely | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 7/14/2023 | Send Email
This cask ticks every box I have for a Highland Park bottling, and at the current price, it's simply too good to pass up. Right away, dense sherry hits the nose with sticky fudge, dried fruit and Seville orange peel. The peat marries beautifully with that dark sherry character, all carried to a heavenly crescendo by the rich malt profile. Perfectly roasted barley brings voluptuous dark chocolate, toffee, hazelnut, caramel and just a touch of iodine. A touch of water frees up the ocean moss character and makes the sea salt and savory flavors of the malt shine. We now see dried heather and marjoram accompany that intensely flavored malt. Truly this cask has everything you could want. Get yours before they're gone!
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