Highland Park Cask Strength Edition (Scandinavian Release)

It's been a while since my last review. It's been nearly a month since Michigan put the Stay Home, Stay Safe order in place and you'd think that I would take this time to really dive into the reviews. This has not been the case. Instead I've been just making mixed drinks and relaxing. Well it's time to break that up a bit. I received this bottle of HP Cask Strength, which looks different from the bottle in the listing (the bottle creation function doesn't seem to be working at the moment). This one, from what information I can gather, is likely batch 3 of the cask strength expression and may or may not have been exclusive to the Swedish market. It comes in at a hefty 63% ABV, its non chill filtered and natural color of a dark amber with orange hues. I got this bottle from @LeeEvolved for Christmas 2019. The nose is potent, a lot of alcohol at first and very boozy. Quite closed off at first, but it comes around. Tangerines and a sweaty/earthy funk. Eucalyptus, light sherry, vanilla and green grapes.. Had to add some water. It becomes much fruitier with a touch of warmed sherry. The tangerines and vanilla are more pronounced, but also some raspberries and strawberries and grape skins. Buttery/fatty and waxy. Light toasted oak, walnuts, fudge and spicy chocolate. Roasted malt, caramel and honey with a light grassy note. Adding water is the way to go here. The palate neat is HOT. Intense tropical fruits like mango, papaya, oranges and pineapple. Too intense to enjoy past the first couple sips. Adding water really helps. It takes away most of the heat and the tropical fruits remain, however they are much more enjoyable. A slight smoky note and some barrel char. Sweet but not sugary sweet, more of a fruity sweet. Spicy oak, honey, a bit tannic and a hint of lemon/lime. A full bodied mouthfeel that is hot, thick, syrupy and mouth coating neat. Medium full bodied, oily, mouth coating and mouthwatering with water added. The finish is long with honey and sweet heat neat. Medium long with wood spice, fruity and honey with water added. While the flavors are very intense and concentrated at cask strength, it's just too intense to enjoy. Taking it down to around 46% (or thereabouts as I don't have a hydrometer) is the sweet spot for this guy. Even down past 46% into scotch mist territory beats straight out of the bottle for me. Overall it's young, a bit rough, but still delicious and enjoyable if you do some experimenting with water. Neat I would only give this a 3.25, but hitting the sweet spot bumps it up to a 3.75. Cheers. You can check this one out on the Dapper Drams YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/sQVsrfFLMv0

I tasted the current version of this available in Sweden, 350ml, 63% abv. Nose: Moist, almost boggy. Like wet leaves fallen from the trees and turned brown. But there is also a marmelade swetness. Light peat, not in a firey way but more damped. It’s ok, not too interesting. Palate: The marmelade comes through. Dark strawberry jam. Well balanced by the light peat. Very nice. Finish: Medium short. The peat and moist lingers a bit and so does the marmelade. No real bitterness, but a slight nutty character. Quite nice. Overall: High abv. I watered it down to just below 50%. The boggy note (decay almost) is not overly pleasant. It is however held back by the jammy qualities which comes through very well, especially on the palate. The light peat is just sugficient to balance and lift the sweet sherry notes. In the end 3.75 (being a bit generous). I prefer this to the 12 yo. Yet to try the 18 yo (have a bottle, soon to be opened).

Bottled exclusively for the Scandinavian market, Highland Park Cask Strength Edition (57.1% ABV) is raising expectations. Youthful and almost reminiscent of a bourbon, the aroma offers vanilla, honey and wood polish. With water, you get hints of vegetation, moss and sour berries. Tasting rough and fairly immature, bitter herbs dominate the taste before distant peatiness starts to emerge. The finish is swift, mineral and a bit metallic. Did HP really believe that thirsty Norsemen wouldn't notice the lack of depth and complexity? Well, most certainly don't... RATING: 3.0/5.0 stars ≙ 79 pts → AVERAGE

Compared to 12 yo, Ambassador's 10 yo, and Valfather (blind test) this one was the least special, a little too generic and only OK. Still, it is Highland Park and it is really nice. Ended up using it to increase the 12 yo's ABV to about 46, and for that it is superb!

This is so good! The proof has changed a few times by the looks of it, mine has the new HP bottle design and is at 60.8%

Väldigt stark! Mycket alkohol. Lätt rökig och de fina smakerna finns ändå där med sherry och vanilj.