Category: Whisky

Highland Park 1995 18 years Old Particular 48.4%

Distilled November 1995, bottled December 2013, from a refill hogshead.

Nose: Fruity, lemon, apple and peach, with an overlaying smokiness. With water the smoke is emphasised and the fresh fruit gives way to lemon and lemon peel.

Palate: Digestives with brown goat’s cheese. Smoke and dry oak. With water added I find dry honey, a bonfire-like smokiness and “Non-Stop” (a Norwegian sweet, similar to M&M’s, but with dark chocolate) on the finish.

Comments: Also a perfectly decent Highland Park, but of a completely different character than the 17 year old from the Old Malt Cask range. This is a little bit better, if only marginally.

Tasted at Oslo Whsikyfestival 2014.

Highland Park 17 years Old Malt Cask 50%

Distilled September 1996, bottled September 2013, from a refill hogshead, DL ref 9903.

IMG_3413Nose: Smoke, honey and heather. With water it develops a fresher character, of green apples and grass.

Palate: Honey! Lightly smoked. Water opens for malt, but there is still a lot of honey.

Comments: A perfectly decent Highland Park.

Tasted at Oslo Whiskyfestival 2014.

Strathclyde 24 years Cadenhead 46%

Nose: Nail varnish remover, grain, dried oranges, orange peel. Water adds a smoky note, more grain and oaky perfume.

Palate: Orange peel, oak and grain. With water I get Christmas cake and more bitterness, but the grainy character is still prominent.

Comments: Quite all right. Nice nose, ok taste. The grain character is almost malty, which is interesting seeing as this spirit is made from unmalted grain.

Tasted at Oslo Whiskyfestival 2014.

Glenfarclas Family Cask 1978 46.3%

Matured for 26 years in a refill hogshead, cask number 590, bottled 26.05.2011.

Nose: Dry wood and wood varnish. Hints of rum-raisin. Water emphasises the raisins a bit, and I get fruit compote associations, but the overwehlming impression is of wood.

Palate: Oaky bitterness, wood and bitter, dark chocolate. No noticeable change with water added.

Comments: Too woody. Though the same age (maturation-wise) than the 1980, the oak has been slightly more active here and has taken over, flattening the taste profile. It’s not bad-tasting, just boring.

Thanks to Geir Tore for the sample.

Glenfarclas Family Cask 1980 50.1%

Cask number 1942. Distilled 29.02.1980, bottled 28.02.2007, 26 years, from a refill sherry butt.

Nose: Slightly bitter wood, alchohol-drenched cherries in dark chocolate. Does not change notably with water, other than acquiring a slight orange peel note.

Palate: More wood, less fruit. Varnished wooden bench. The varnish approaches acetone with water, but the water also adds something fruity, possibly banana.

Comments: Approaching the “too woody” age. It’s still drinkable, but I’d have bottled it earlier.

Thanks to Geir Tore for the sample.

Glenfarclas Family Cask 1985 46.3%

Distilled 02.09.1985, bottled 28.02.2007, matured in a refill sherry hogshead, cask number 2826.

Nose: The immediate impression is wood, but then I find tart, dark plums and dark chocolate. After some time in the glass it offers up sweeter fruits; ripe cherries and also a hint of marzipan. With water the fruit tends towards orange marmelade with a hint of aniseed. Even later I find apple compote.

Palate: Plum in Madeira, rum-soaked cherries; fruit in spirits, that is… and dark chocolate. Candied oranges, too, and wood, but in no way overwhelming wood. The palate is rounded off with water and gets more of a milk chocolate character.

Comments: Dessert. The clear favourite of the three vintages I’m tasting this evening. Its oaky character makes its age obvious, but the oak has not yet overwhelmed the spirit, and the whisky may be at its peak, at least as far as “the preserves shelf in the pantry”, there is fruit conserved in any number of ways here.

Thanks to Geir Tore for the sample.

Highland Park 21 years 40%

100 % ex-sherry American oak, 20 % first fill.

Martin og HP 21 år.
Martin og HP 21 år.

Nose: Cinnamon, menthol, almost like Tiger Balm. Some flowery notes; heather. Light smoke, more fruit (apples and pears) after some time in the glass.

Palate: Spicy, fruit flowers, honey, oak and vanilla, a light metallic note.

Comments: A bit much at full strength (even if it’s only at 40%), I’d have liked some water. A whisky I’d like to sit down properly and get in depth with at some point.

Highland Park Drakkar 40%

15-20 % first fill european ex-sherry casks.

IMG_2195

Nose: (Somewhat sweaty) milk chocolate. Tendencies towards rubber that fade after a while. Hint of smoke, dried apricots, oak, lightly minty.

Palate: Very oily, some ashes, some rather sharp wood (bitter notes).

Comments: Gets better after a while in the glass. A little too sharp/bitter on the finish, but the nose is really good once that rubber fades.