Highland Park 15 Year Old

@Andrea, my bottle of Highland Park 15 has a much stronger sherry flavour than all of the HP18 and HP25 that I have had. Have you also found the HP15 to have an unusually strong sherried flavour, compared to other whiskies in the standard Highland Park line?

Sorry Victor... I see your comment now.. I agree with you, I think that the HP15 sherry flavour is much more marked and defined than HP18 and HP25. In my opinion different sensation of sherry from HP 15 to HP 25 is derived primarily from the presence of different flavors that surround it.

I do agree with Victor. The sherry flavour is more dominant in the 15 y than in the 18 y. Also I would say that there is quite a smokiness in this whisky, already remarkable in the nose. Lemons, oranges, and malt can be found in the nose as well. I like the tickle on the tongue while savouring. In my opinion a delicious whisky.

Really lovely expression. I would rate it a bit higher, maybe an 87. At the price point, I would be hard pressed to purchase one bottle of the 18 or 2 bottles of the 15. My wife finds it quite nice as well, which is another selling point if we both enjoy it.

Strange, I was at the Toronto Whisky Live festival last night and the HP booth staff were saying the 15 is bourbon cask matured only, whereas the 12 and 18 use sherry casks in combination with bourbon. I actually don't like HP12 and thoroughly enjoyed HP15, long story short, I enjoyed the peat and the lack of smoke compared to other islanders. So HP15 is not on my wishlist...

@ ckingphoto - interesting what the HP guys said about the 15 yr being matured in bourbon casks...In the YouTube vid HP rep Gerry Tosh says the 15 yr was matured in American White Oak barrels which once held sherry...

youtube.com/watch/…

Yea I'm not sure about it... The colour suggests little to no sherry influence. Also sometimes these brand managers aren't drinkers either... :S

Just watched the video @FMichael and that wasn't the colour of the HP15 I tried last night... it was the light amber that you would expect from bourbon casks...

@ ckingphoto - the few bottles of HP 15 yr that I've had in the past, and currently have look the same as in the Gerry Tosh vid (including the slight yellow/green hue when held up to the light), and smell/taste pretty much as how he describes them.

Maybe changes were made with the HP 15 maturation process (American White Oak bourbon instead of American White Oak sherry) that we are now starting to see?

@FMichael There are also discrepancies with the alcohol %... a lot of reviews and the Tosh video are quoting 40%... but the bottle I tasted and the ones for sale here are all 43%... Maybe some things have changed... Also I made a typo error above. HP15 is NOW on my wishlist. It was delicious.

@ ckingphoto - I'm not sure why, but it seems pretty common for us on this side of the Atlantic that we get a tad bit higher abv; Balvenie is another distillery in which we'll get 43% whereas those in the UK/EU get 40%.

Maybe someone else can enighten us on the higher abv?..I for one am not complaining!

Oh right true, Laphroaig also does this. 43% in Canada here but EU/UK is 40%...Sigh... if only everything was labeled like my Signatory bottle and some of the Gordon & McPhail bottles/packages.

i think the higher abv number in the us is to compete with bourbons, which typically are 45%. just a thought. no other reason though really. i've been typically buying cask strength bottles recently likr the abunadh the oogadal and am interested in picking up next the astar and the nadurra (and the abunadh again). funny since these are all nas bottles.