Highland Park 25 Year Old

Nose: vanilla, honey, chocolate, hint of smoke

Palate: vanilla, oak, hint of smoke and peat

Finish: long and lingering with a hint of smoke and vanilla.

Very rich and near perfection. Too rich to guzzle which is perfect at this price.

gift sample from a friend

Nose: I love these things - nothing coy about it. Vanilla, honey, and an obvious, not overwhelming, dose of wood. Some clean peat&smoke combo, and flowers. This has all the hallmarks of a HP. Fruit hangs out in some of the layers as well: peaches, pears, apples in nougat. Pinch of salt. Honey-caramel. Rich and delicious. Maybe even a little menthol. Lots of fine sherry comes out with time, along with fresh nuts (as odd as that sounds, nuts can be freshly picked, right?) Great stuff. Definitely worth the wait.

Palate: Thick and punchy, the way we like these sort of honeyed whiskies so they don't all turn out to be the same. If honey were magically alcohol, this could be it. It does have a heavy dose of wood riding throughout, but it carries vanilla and smoky peat with it. A little chocolate-coffee cake, spiced, and with a few burned corners, but still buttery moist in the far backdrop. The sherry fruits are a bit lighter here than the nose, but it's a very gentle mixture of them all.

Finish: Lots of all the same, and a hint of the smokiness remains. Honey, vanilla, salt, sherried fruit, coffee liqueur, malt chocolate. Minutes later, I even got a hint of shellfish, very nice all the way. The oak was a little loud for me on the palate, even as it kept the whole from being too sweet. It's thick, rich, flavorful, and very well made with the usual mix of HP goodness. It's just delicious.

I opened this glorious expression last New Year's Eve which was really my way of telling my friends and family how special they were to me.

A thick syrupy nose, dripping with dark honey, chocolate, char grilled tangerines, breakfast marmalade and that scrumptious layer of burnt sugar found on top of a perfectly cooked caramel pudding. I was so glad I chose to go with this expression to impress my friends! Cuddle with it a little more and you will experience a sprinkle of aniseeds atop a rum fruit cake. All of this is then perfectly balanced against the backdrop of mature oak. Perfect!

The velvet delivery first comes with black pepper and then quite expertly balances out with a spread of maple syrup, orange zest followed by a sprinkling of dark chocolate flakes.

At nearly cask strength the finish is satisfyingly long, dry and oaky. There are cloves with the minutest touch of tobacco and leather and, just as you're about to bid adieu, there is that delicious burnt sugar on top of the caramel pudding.

Even though there is a slightly bitter aftertaste I don't think it will affect my popularity with my friends!

On the nose: Two drops of water to open it up. Notes of caramel; some oak as well. Sweet notes are clearly present just above the glass. Mainly notes of raspberry syrup there. Back inside the glass again; smell the forest. Leaves, a hint of smoke, moist earth with subtle notes of flowers. This is a beaitful early autumn day. It prepares you for a well balanced, rich whisky.

On the palate: Oak, flowers and earth, some caramel, a little smoke and a flavour I can’t quite place. Some dried fruits and walnuts, I think. It isn’t really a flavour on its own, but more of a way the whisky settles in your mouth. At this moment I can tell this is good whisky, but it’s all about the second sip. So there we go again. Oh, even better now. Almost immediately the sweet raspberry syrup shows up and then fades away. Oaky dryness. It feels full and smooth, gentle but strong. It doesn’t overwelms you but rather fills your mouth from top to bottom with richness and then takes you away. Long lasting aftertaste.

Conclusion: A beautiful whisky. Fullbodied and well balanced. Pleasantly powerful. Worth the money, though the HP 18y is perhaps more value for the money.

Nose: bourbon-like woody sweetness, Christmasy spice like nutmeg, maraschino cherries.

Palate: rich caramel and maple syrup being supported by aromatic (herbal?) peat and smoke

Finish: smokey and sweet, like eating a candy apple next to a campfire

I found this whisky to be very indulgent. The price is expensive, however, I don't feel like I wasted my money. I know that many many will probably disagree with me, but I find the local Orkney peat that HP uses much more aromatic than Islay peat. Whatever your opinion, Orkney peat is definitely unique.

My notes differ from others' in that I don't find this whisky less balanced than the 18 year old. The 25 shares many similarities with the 18. The two main differences between the two that I note are as follows:

1) They both have an initial sweetness but the HP 18 is a more nutty toffee sweetness and the HP 25 is a more rich caramel or maple syrup.

2) The finish on the HP 18 is a more dry smoke and the HP 25 finish has the smoke but with some background sweetness.

Overall, well worth it and if you like the HP 18 like I do, you'll be pleased to discover what 7 more years does.

Nose: definitely grassier and waxier than the 18yo. More resinous notes as well. The honey accents are still there, but less pronounced. More peat, less caramel. Walnuts. It’s difficult to say whether this is better or not, it seems a lot sharper and a bit more one-dimensional on the nose.

Mouth: really muscular: more peat, more grass. The sweetness was traded for a waxiness and there’s a bunch of pepper. It’s bigger and less gentle, which is a good thing.

Finish: very long with dominant spices and warm peat. Less smokey than the 18yo. Some marmelade at the very end.