Highland Park  18y old OB
bottled 2015 (bottle code L0517T L4) - 43%

scores
whiskybase – 87-25  wb105846
malt maniacs - no score
serge valentin - 87 (2016 edition)

Highland Park 18 yo (43%, OB, +/-2016)  An old favourite, haven’t try the 18 since a good six years though. Loved it in 2011 (WF 88). Colour: pale gold. Nose: so typically HP! There’s that heather honey that wasn’t quite to be found in the 15 and Valkyrie, more roundness, more dried fruits (figs, dates, pears, raisins) and earth rather than smoke. Orange blossom, dandelions, honeysuckle, and some nice whiffs of humus and garden peat. In short his baby’s more refined, and perhaps more civilised. Not quite Viking stuff this time, if you like. Mouth: indeed, a different world. Superb dried fruits mingled with some herbal syrup (Chartreuse, genepy, eucalyptus) and the expected honey, with a feeling of charred wood in the background. Rather a gentleman’s HP, if you will. Finish: medium, a tad rougher and grassier, but still quite wonderful. Ah our good old HP 18!… Comments: a little less fan of the finish, but Highland Park 18 years old remains a classy classic. SGP:552 - 87 points.