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Highland Park 30 Year Old

Oldest/priciest not always the best

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@mattbergReview by @mattberg

26th Aug 2013

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Highland Park 30 Year Old
  • Nose
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  • Overall
    85

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I've tried quite a few HP distillery offerings over the past couple of years and have been looking forward with great anticipation to the 30 year bottled at 48.1%. This retails in London for about £230 with the 5cl available at £19. As one would expect this has a beautifully deep toffee honey colour and sits in the glass elegantly. I tried two drams with and without just a teaspoon of water.

On the nose I found, old oranges, cinnamon, pineapple and coconut, the body was thick and oily with a strong malt blast, tastes of deep oak and mahogany and bees wax with a surprisingly short but deep orange/marmalade finish. I left the second dram to sit for an hour added a drop of water which didn't really change the experience. I'm glad I tried this but this didn't really inspire me in anyway, I just felt I was drinking very old whisky. I still think the best HP's are the 16 yo and 18 yo's for balance, texture and finish. I'm glad I've tried this HP 30yo but for sure I would not rush to buy it at £230 per bottle, and in fact have tried (for me) far better and more inspiring Whiskies at £50-£70, Springbank 15/18yo's and Talisker 18yo immediately come to mind as excellent Whiskies.

Oldest and priciest are simply not always the best, but perhaps worth trying as part of ones's Whisky exploration.

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4 comments

k
kian commented

Just picked up a fantastic 25 year old HP from Cadenheads in London,still some left if you happen to be passing by any time soon.Its a single sherry cask bottling and worth every penny of its £120 price tag, review on whisky fun website if you are interested.

11 years ago 0

@mattberg
mattberg commented

Hi Kian, I picked this up from the Cadenhead shop in London this week (didn't even know it was there) and well, this is some dram. Great little Whisky shop will definitely be going back,thanks for the heads-up. I took several drams with varying measures of water, and boy does this stuff need taming. It's like a mouthful of dark chocolate gateaux with burnt cherries, fuelled aniseed, black syrup, violet marzipan and almond cake. I've revisited after a couple of days and tried it after a fresh Mortlach 13 and Springbank 15.. definitely better as a finisher and with a cigar. Tons of mature honey, wood sap, bees wax, dark sherry and spiced ginger cake. Will be taking another dram with an equally rich Partagas D4 cigar then leaving half of the bottle a few months.

Cheers.

11 years ago 0

k
kian commented

Its one bad ass of a whisky for sure.Intense, complex and very tasty.One to take your time with and play around with the water.

11 years ago 0

R
Rigmorole commented

The 18's aren't the best any longer, sadly to say. They have flown the coop. I've never tasted an HP 16. The 15 is not bad, but doesn't hold a candle to the old 18's, which were among my favorite whiskies of all time.

10 years ago 0