Highland Park Cask Strength Release No. 3

Highland Park Cask Strength 3 is anything but subtle. If your not looking for "wow," then you need to look elsewhere. Like all these HP Cask Strength expressions, these are obnoxiously bold, over the top, and incredibly exciting. I recently described HP Cask Strength 3 to a friend and likened it to an Olympic Gymnast. These show up to their event in pristine shape. With muscles some have never seen before, onlookers knows these athletes are capable of WAY more than they could ever imagine. All at once, the gymnast goes full sprint, summersaulting, leaping, flipping in a diverse combination of twists and turns one can only describe as an orchid being born out of fire. It's aggressive, yet beautiful - forceful, yet controlled. This is Highland Park Cask Strength at it's core. It's every bit in your face, yet somehow still displays the craft and elegance Highland Park is known for. It's a Monster Energy drink can full of roses, and I'm... more than OK with it. The nose houses caramel and Werther's Originals with orange peel, apricot, and raisin. There's a creamy note that subdues other harsher elements alongside spun sugar, and dried corn. Pineapple offers a tropical note and adding a drop of water allows grilled corn to come through. On the palate, there's bold sweetness with a massive heat. Quite frankly, pulling out the individual components is rather difficult till you add a drop of water. Then, you begin to taste maple, oak, cinnamon, pancake, and biscuits. This dram has a buttery and savory side to it. Yeah it's a wood chipper, but a wood chipper that reads novels and listens to NPR. I think it goes without saying that this dram packs a punch when it comes to finish. Calling it "lingering" would be a gross understatement. It full on builds a campfire in your esophagus and stays the night under a sky full of stars. It then wakes up refreshed and says, " I think I could stay and extra night," and you let it, for fear it will beat you up if you deny it the opportunity. All that said, this is not a Highland Park you share with friends, or neighbors, or people you love. This is a Highland Park you share with "that" person, the person that wants the spectacle - the person who prefers a milk leaf on their latte while they watch Grave Digger crush 12 school buses.

There was a time when you would get a Highland Park 12, 15, 18, 21 or 25. Then came the whole Nordic marketing and the shift from age statements. The dizzying and muddled campaign steered them away from what they do best. This hopefully is a step back to what they do best. A quality, flavorful whisky with straightforward objective: good, straightforward scotch. This release is backed by at a full throttle 64.1% Abv. So it will be coming on strong. N: A sherry forward nose that brings with it raisins, plums, figs encased in petrichor; damp leaves and earth. Charred S’Mores burning over a fire pit. The ethanol vapors continue throughout but they don’t detract from the nose. In some sense, it reenforces the strength of this bottling. P: With its muscle, the tongue is desensitized and becomes tingly. Once the needles subside, the sherry influence encases the palate with raisins and cinnamon, dark chocolate, black pepper, salted peanuts. F: A long finish that leaves some soot and ash, oak, walnuts, a caramel. Sweet and savory. W: Of course water takes the edginess and rounds the sharpness. However the character of the dram is lost. Approachable and strengthening or enhancing the sherry influence. O: A balanced but forceful whisky. The flavor is unabashedly in your face and doesn’t care. The flavor is deep and rich. The earthy sweetness is unique. The sherry sweetness flavor balances the savory side. Water scales it back somewhat. Add in small amounts diluting is necessary. Slightly pricy comparatively to the standard HP12 but in a degree of justification, you are getting a concentrated version. If this had a slightly increases flavor profile, it would be in the upper tier of whisky. A tasty pour without the marketing flash that HP had gone through a few years ago. The way it should be. [90/100] [$99][Tasted: 12/28/24]

Even though I hate the most recent marketing of Highland Park, the brand has some sentimental value to me, as it was the first whisky that got me interested in peat. I've only ever tried the regular 12 year, both before the marketing change and after. The last time I tried it, I thought it had taken a step back from the pre-viking bottlings. But I've heard good things about the newest cask strength release, so I thought I'd give it a go. We know that the marketing department is on heavy drugs, but let's see if the whisky-makers are too. On the nose, orange, honey, vanilla, light peat. There's a little sourness that takes turns as slightly off-putting, to actually pleasant when I imagine it as a fresh orange. On the palate a nice oily texture. The sherry shows up strongly on the palate, continuing the orange, but adding some berry and dark chocolate. I had heard that this was the most peated of their cask strength releases. It's definitely there, especially on the finish, but I was hoping for more. The peat is, as they say, very heathery, and it does come across more strongly than I remember on the 12 year. It's very drinkable straight from the bottle despite the proof, but also takes some water quite well, although it seemed the peat and fruit diminished and the honey grew stronger. This is a good whisky. I will say it seems a hair overpriced, but then everything seems overpriced right now. Going with 4 stars.

Open 9 months Nose - Spicy honey, honeysuckle, sharp malt, Big League Chew grape flavored, forest after rainfall, campfire, and strong ethanol. Palate - Musty sherry, raisins, figs, wet hay, eucalyptus, citrus oil, and ashy peat. Finish is long with ash, dank peat, grain, sweet malt, honey, raisins, and medium ethanol. This is much better than the original release. That was way too hot and ashy. I skipped over No. 2 because I didn't think they would improve it that much, but reviews kept getting stronger for No. 2 and No. 3 so I finally took the plunge. I still think this is missing a little something, slightly more sherry influence and a couple more years in the barrel. If that happens in the future, it would probably be the best cask strength Scotch under $100.

Nose: Malt and peat forward, with a black pepper lingering. Pretty tight nose Palate: effervescent, spicy malt, candied lemon peel, peat, savory saltyness like burnt bacon. As you continue to sip, the red fruit from the finish becomes more prominent Finish: long finish, the acrid peat and light, sweet honey last a while. The red fruit makes a longer and longer appearance as you continue to sip

Smoked heather honey mangos..delicious! Definitely more smokey/peaty than any other Highland Park release I have had. My favorite of all the cask strength batches released so far.