Highland Park’s ’12’. Jack’s been happily drinking this stuff for years (and may he drink it for many more…). With this in mind, it seemed high time that we finally gave a few more column inches to the flagship whisky of one of our very favourite distilleries…
Rating
Price
Circa £35
In a Nutshell
Candied seville oranges, toffee and a moderate amount of delicious Orcadian peat smoke that may or may not mentally transport you to sensual, sensory spaces and barren, almost Arctic island scenes. A reasonably priced dram, well deserving of the title ‘classic’ (and it’s not me who came up with that one…)
“…The attitude at Highland Park is one of custodianship rather than management, of tradition rather than novelty. “
Highland Park: supposedly Scotland’s most northerly distillery, located in the beautiful and desolate Orkney Islands, and hidden up in the hillside near Kirkwall (the largest town and capital of the Orkney Islands). Orkney is known for a few things, namely strong Viking roots (which can still be seen today) – and a unique, more temperate climate that is quite different from that of mainland Scotland.
The distillery is said to have been founded in 1798 by Magnus Eunson. Many people think that Magnus was a preacher by day and booze smuggler by night. This is partly true, he was indeed a smuggler, but not a preacher (unless you count whisky as gospel, and many do…). His illicit activities were supposedly based out of his bothy (a bothy is essentially a Celtic mountain cabin), which is near where the distillery stands now.
The official (and legal) founding of the distillery came a few years later in 1811, by a guy called Robert Borwick. in 1895 the distillery was acquired by whisky baron James Grant (the man behind Glen Grant etc). Highland Park’s whiskies were mainly used in blends (including The Famous Grouse), until 1997-98 when they started releasing their own bottlings. I believe it’s still being blended into The Famous Grouse today.
Highland Park are also one of the few remaining distilleries that still malts their whisky in the traditional style – they have malting floor and they turn each batch of their their malt by hand. It’s hard work.
We Drink It, Stuff Happens
First Impressions
A good sherried whiff coming out of there. It’s a dull, darkish gold colour, with no real legs: not particularly viscous.
Nose
Initially a good whiff of leather, which, over time, opens up to be sweet, sweet sherry with candied orange peel. There’s also an underlying dry (and raw), new rubber/tyre, hot sand note – with a little hint of tobacco smoke that later reveals itself on your tongue. Very little alcoholic evaporation coming off of it – could it be a smooooooooothjazz whisky?
The overall feeling is delicious citrus with a bit of a bite.
Palate
A little sweet on the tongue, let it sit for a while and you get a hint at the sweet citrus that’s about to DELIVER. Swallow and it opens up to…a medium to thin bodied flavour of seville oranges, butterscotch, toffee and cardamom all of which arrive at the same time as the smoke. And with just a little bit of heat – like the fire had been extinguished by the smoke
As these all fade, the smoke remains, with a hint of white pepper, sweetened citrus and just a iota of something rich and creamy. What a combination! As with most cheaper whiskies, takes a few drams to really warm up to the kaleidoscope of lively flavours swimming under the surface…
Finish
Smoke, just a little – a peaty bonfire sensation that is subtle and nicely balanced with the citrus flavour. It lingers with candied orange for a while.
Much of the finish disappears pretty quickly but the smoke clings like happy reminiscence to your tongue – with a little of that candied orange. What happens when you breathe our through your nose? Mad citrus fam
Whatever the whisky equivalent of what wine drinkers call ‘quaffable’, this is it
Verdict
As for value, I will say I’m a little biased as this is one of my favourite spirits from my favourite distilleries…
Tastes like how much it costs really. It’s on the higher end of the ‘entry level’ whiskies (compare it, for example, with sub-£30 prices for the likes of Laphroaig 10 and Glenfiddich 12: both of which are pretty great for that price).
But, in my personal opinion, I’ve always thought Highland Park have been uniquely brilliant at combining a small amount of peat with a lot of interesting cask and malt flavours. I have (and will) happily pay extra for it.
Here’s to another few hundred (thousand) years of Highland Park!