anyone else have an issue with this image?

@Nock This price is not only ridiculous, it is offensive! Seriously?!

Yikes, I thought the Dark Origins was overpriced here at $110.

I'd use octomores in cocktails if they weren't so damn expensive :)

@Dreambuie That's why pipettes were invented – a little Octomore goes a long way :)

interesting. I can no longer seem to find the tweet from the Highland Park twitter account. Looks like a few of their other tweets involving mixing high-end single malts have disappeared as well.

To reiterate - I'm fine with consumers doing whatever they want with their whisky purchases, it's a free world. I'm also not against using whisky in mixed drinks, I drink them as well. But I'll be damned if I purchase any whiskys from a distiller that PROMOTES using high-end whiskys in mixed drinks - those 18-30 yr olds were created to be enjoyed as a stand-alone, and should be promoted as such (do what you want with them once you purchase them, though, I can't control peoples' IQ levels).

I may have stumbled upon my own personal crusade for 2017...

Hello all, we have passed your thoughts on to the team at Highland Park and have received the below from Jason Craig, Brand Director:

"The team on Orkney who take years to craft and create one of the finest single malt scotch whiskies in the world are aware that not everyone wants to drink Highland Park. Although we are not always clear why, we recognise that sometimes it is about the strong flavour that does not appeal to everyone. Some of the finest bartenders in the world craft drinks using the finest ingredients and we believe that should you want to mix Highland Park or indeed use it as one of several ingredients in a cocktail - that is perfectly fine and we would not discourage you. It is simply a matter of taste and personal preference. Showing some imagery of Highland Park being used in cocktails is just reflecting how some of our biggest fans like to enjoy it – in an era of confrontation and argument, we like to think of ourselves as open to new ideas."

@cask_strength we have not deleted our posts, you can find them here (facebook.com/ushighlandpark/photos/…) and here (twitter.com/cask_strength/status/…)

We hope this helps to explain further our thoughts on the matter.

Best wishes, Highland Park social team

Hey, whoever buys the whisky can do whatever they want with it. Personally I've never mixed single malt into a cocktail, but if I was more wealthy and wanted my cocktail to taste better, it's my money and my whisky. And as a Libertarian I try to live and let live.

It is highly ironic to me that @cask_strength chose this particular malt for his objection to cocktail-making with whisky. Overall I am a giant fan of Highland Park products, but I am not a fan of Dark Origins. If you are sulphur-blind Highland Park Dark Origins is a very nice malt. If you are not sulphur-blind, the Dark Originis is somewhere between highly flawed and undrinkable, depending upon the batch or bottle. In fact, Dark Origins is the only TRULY BAD whisky I have had from Highland Park. (I really do like the bottle design and name, though.) I would be more concerned about Dark Origins ruining my perfectly good cocktail mixing ingredients than I would be that the cocktail-makings would harm the whisky. I would not buy a bottle of Dark Origins under any circumstances. If one were given to me as a gift I would trade it away ASAP.

And, @cask_strength, when exactly was that Golden Age when the whisky makers were not motivated by 'the almighty buck'?

I take offense. This aint the famous grouse. Drink it as nature intended.

Live and let live.

I'm of an attitude that questions my right to give umbrage, in particular to taste and preference. For my own tastes however I prefer not to adulterate my whisky.

I recall buying a bottle,Gordon & MacPhail Highland Park Exclusive Cask #5821 that was so sulphured I took Ralphy's advice and stuck in a piece of oak. Didn't do more than a slight improvement. Not wanting to pour it down the drain I persevered. Surprisingly I began to enjoy the sulphur. I suppose it could be likened to self-flagellation. So I'm wondering if Dark Origins has a similar taste.

I'm also wondering if HP decided to keep the next batch of sulphured whisky rather than try to flog it off. GM managed to sell all of Cask#5821. I went back for more but it was sold out.

Heresy!

Malt whisky of such calibre, out of the bottle, should not be mixed with anything, not even water. :P

Now that I have gotten that out of my system, I have no issues with anyone enjoying whisk(e)y however they please - so as long as they enjoy it, fine by me.