Archive For The “Highland Park” Category

The Highland Park 21 is a classic example of an expression that migrated successfully from the travel retail market into the general market. Yes, it did undergo some trials and tribulations, including being released at 40% ABV for a while, but it got back on track. The nose on this expression is absolutely stunning, but the…

Together with the old sherry Glenlossie, this Highland Park was the high point in this very special tasting. Of all independent bottlers, Gordon and MacPhail have a singular approach to wood management: They bring their own casks to distilleries, and have them filled there. Thus, they are probably the independent bottler most involved in the…

Highland Park is the most northern Scotch whisky distillery in the world. By a bit that is! The island of Orkney holds two distilleries, Highland Park and the much less known Scapa distillery. Highland park lies about 600 meters (2000 feet) north of Scapa. Highland Park adopted the Norse mythology that pervades Orcadian history and culture,…

Until last month, my oldest Highland Park was a 22 year old Society bottle (Cask 4.190) which I reviewed here. Then, in a span of a few short weeks, I tasted two 30 year old Highland Park whiskies, one is the official distillery bottling and the other is a Gordon and MacPhail 1985 bottling (dating…

It seems that I’m writing quite a bit about NAS expressions lately, which is not surprising since almost all the new distillery expressions out there are NAS. I’ve said it before, and will just reiterate, I’m not opposed to NAS on principle (unless it’s on single cask bottlings). NAS whisky can be good, and several…