Highland Park Cask Strength Release No. 1

Rating: 13/23 I'm worried. I vaguely recall this getting less than glowing reviews. I also recently retried the Highland Park 12 and found that its youth brought with it a problematically strong sulphur flavor. I presume this is younger and more intense, so this might just be a blast of sulphur. N: Full and oily with sort of a scent of roasted pork tenderloin. A bit of wood and earth, as well as some bitter herbal character (peat?). This smells a lot less sweet and maritime than Highland Park 12. Given some substantial time to open up and putting it side by side with Highland Park 12, this has bigger meatiness with fairly similar sulphur. It lacks the sweetness though and has a bit more oil to it. The salt from the sea spray also gets folded into the pork instead. This is definitely less complex and further from the profile that I love in the Highland Park 18. P: Strong with a burn. Oily, but fairly clean. As it goes on, the usual Highland Park maritime character and apricot sweetness start to come out, with a bit more orange added. There's sort of that highland light malty sweetness with a touch of tartness. Smoke with a bitter peaty herbal character that's a bit flat (but that helps fill out the profile) lingers. There's a rich, full grassiness to it - not fresh grass, but more bone dry. A Some cinnamon and ginger. There's definitely a youthfulness going on here, with not a lot of wood or mature flavor showing through. Or at least there''s a clean, bland spirit a la Glen Grant happening here. Except there's also an earthiness with a few used green tea leaves and just a touch of oily coconut. Toward the end of the palate, there is unfortunately a big plop of sulphur. I was getting a bit optimistic about this one until that hit. The Highland Park 12 strikes me as more complex and balanced than this, but this benefits from the fullness and oiliness of the high proof, giving it a more rugged nature. Water adds some complexity and balance to the grass herbal profile, brings out a bit more sweetness with the addition of a little vanilla, and reduces the sulphur below the level I found in the 12. F: That rich, bitter smoke with sulphur. Some tartness from the peat. Occasional hints of sweet apricot. - Conclusion - Without water, this is pretty close in quality to Highland Park 12. I'm actually a bit relieved: I'd been afraid that this would be more intense and absolutely miserable. I'd probably put this a little below the 12, so it might land at 11. Adding water is a game-changer though. It doesn't make this a great whisky, but it makes it a lot more drinkable. "Game-changer" means in this case that it might be as high as a 14. I'm thinking it's a 13 though. That will be my overall rating for it. Thank you @ctbeck11 for sharing this. I'd been on the fence about it and decided against it, so it was great to get this opportunity to try it.

N: Dried earth, musty dried pears, dried apple. Fresh herb garden, anonymous floral notes, white tea with honey. Graham cracker, sweet peat smoke, and a little more than a dash of ethanol. P: Rich and spicy right off the bat. Toffee, black tea, coffee. Earth and pine, stone fruit, a vegetal peat. Mid palate is slightly bitter and herbal with a dash of green tea or even matcha, honey again, and dry sesame seed crackers. A few sips in you notice how oily it is - super heavy and slick on the tongue. That coating is also very spicy - definitely a chili pepper type of spice that's more than jalapeno, less than habanero, somewhere in between. Caramel builds in even later than that and carries into the finish. Other than the caramel, the finish is mostly vegetal peat, some smoke, and lots and lots of heat - one of the hottest finishes I've experienced. As that heat finally tapers, some dusty wood notes emerge along with a good tannic pucker that forms in the cheeks. This is kind of oddly both great and slightly disappointing. It's a fine dram in its own right, but it lacks some of the depth and complexity you get from the 12 year. I had hoped this would be a step up from that, but it's really trading finesse and complexity for power and heat. I think it suffers a bit because it's an NAS bottle - you have to assume there's some relatively young make in there; young enough that they don't want to put an age statement on it. I don't know, I'm just guessing - one of the more knowledgeable drinkers on this site probably does know. Long story short, I like this, but I think I just might love a cask strength 12 year HP. Maybe that's an evolution of this line down the road. I hope so. (As a side note, I would expect future batches of this to be better as HP dials in the blend for the marketplace. I'd certainly pick up future batches, but probably wouldn't look too hard for them either.)

Uncut - very strong nose - charcoal, sweet sherry, wisps of smoke, spicy herbal notes - heather and grass. The sherry has a citrusy, acidic funk that gives way to walnuts and raisins. I also get a little dark chocolate. The sherry is front and center on the palate- sweet, with an acidic bite. Earthy and nutty, but there is a dry almost fino like character as well. I get a little dry dark chocolate, and some smokey peat combined with coastal flavors- salt and white pepper, the smoke is dry and rolling and persists into the long finish. I get the honey and heather that I so closely associate with Highland Park, but it's not nearly as strong as the sherry flavors, which are turned up to 11 here. The sherry is creamy and there is a definite oakiness from the cask. I get chocolate and walnuts well into the finish. This is definitely Highland Park, and it works well at cask strength. It is very flavorful and robust. I'm not sure that it has quite the balance of the official distillery releases, but it does everything that I expect out of Highland Park, and it does all the things that make it one of my very favorite distilleries in the world. The intensity of the sherry is really quite enjoyable, but it somehow doesn't crowd out the more delicate flavors. The intensity of the flavors makes this a veritable storm in a glass- it tastes like an ancient wind-swept island. This is a perfect cold, windy day, drink in from of the fire kind of dram.

The Highland Park Cask Strength is a much-welcome addition to their core lineup. Sitting at a formidable 63.3% ABV, this is a heck of a way to kick off what is hopefully a long-lasting series. Nose: Vanilla custard, butterscotch, and caramel. Apple, pear, apricot, golden raisin, and toffee. Background plum. A floral note. Milk chocolate. Dried apricot and cranberry. The faintest note of brine and sea salt. Cinnamon, white pepper, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Powerful spice. Palate: Caramel, toffee, milk chocolate, vanilla, graham cracker, and butterscotch. Plum, raisin, cranberry, date, fig, and prune. Cola. Sherry casking is evident. Some honeydew. Soapy brine and sea salt. Chestnut and toasted almond. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, white pepper, and oak. Finish: Plum, cola, raisin, and red grape. Dried apricot and cranberry. Caramel, toffee, butterscotch, and vanilla. More of that cinnamon, white pepper, and oak. Long finish. Good first effort. My first impression was that this one was a bit disjointed and had the brashness that I enjoy without the complexity. Turns out it just needed some time to breathe. 4/5. $120 is steep for an NAS whisky, but the cask strength status makes up for that. This is a nice wrinkle in the HP portfolio. I’m looking forward to trying future releases. Solid first effort.

Man this is a potent whiskey. Bottled at 63.9% ABV, this selection oddly tastes hotter than some slightly higher proof offerings I've tried from Highland Park. ( Westray, for example is bottled at 65.1% ABV ) The front of the taste is very sweet. Its hard to tell that this was aged in sherry seasoned casks because I don't taste the powerful influence of berries or red fruits like I normally would in a sherry cask whiskey. At this proof, the whiskey creates an interesting tingling sensation on my tongue. Not unpleasant but unexpected indeed. Toward mid mouth and all the way through, the sweetness gives way to a sensational hit of peat smoke. This whiskey finishes hot, with a stinging bite and high proof warmth. I get that cask strength selections are intended to be sampled with varying amounts of water drops. However, much to my downfall I cannot bring myself to introduce water or ice to any whiskey in the Highland Park catalogue. Still, for such a high proof offering; this whiskey still sings with the complexity I did not expect to find at this ABV. Even though this might be one of my least favorite Highland Park offerings, it is still significantly better than a lot of competing cask strength whiskies in this price point.

A relatively new Highland Park cask strength expression, called edition No.1, even if this distillery has a bunch of whiskies that are bottled at cask strength. This one has been advertised as a whisky that shows the full palette of aromas and flavors that Highland Park can achieve. Bottled at a very powerful 63.3%abv, golden color. On the nose, it is very floral and strong. Starts with a malted barley aroma note, lemon, heathery peat, cookie dough, vanilla and molasses. A lot of floral notes, hay, butter and grapefruit. On the palate the first sip is way too powerful. Very sulphuric, copper, a lot of metallic flavors. It is a very fiery flavor. The second sip is amazing though. Vanilla, vinegar, red fruits, red wine and apples. Aftertaste is a little difficult to handle due to the peatiness and the high abv. I am a peat head, but the sulphuric notes where just too harsh at the beggining. Smoke, pepper, cigarrettes, vanilla, incense and coal. A second sip gave me smoke, hay and bonfire. Wasabi is there too. Overall, this is a good expression, but it feels harsh sometimes. The flavor palette is good, not overly complex, but decent enough. My score for it is 89/100.