Whisky Review: Highland Park Magnus

Over the last decade Highland Park has gone from a relatively unassuming distillery within the Edrington group (even if I remember how much people griped when they switched over to the flat bottles) to a much more high profile brand, often for not so great reasons. While they used to have a rather basic lineup, they started to release an increasingly bizarre array of NAS whiskies with fanciful names and wild price points. They also went all-in on their 'Viking' heritage, from the one-offs named after various Scandinavian deities to the current lineup where most of their core releases seem to be some variant of "Viking X".

While most of their NAS releases were aimed at the higher end of the market, they have finally succumbed to inserting it at the bottom of their list as well. This is now their entry-level single malt below their 10 and 12 Year olds.

This whisky was aged in sherry seasoned casks (ex-bourbon casks refreshed with sherry), then bottled at 40% without coloring but with chill filtration.

I purchase this sample from Raised by Wolves in 2019.

Highland Park Magnus

Nose: pleasantly creamy malt, a touch of rounded sherry, mild peat smoke, green vegetation, heathery floral notes, a bit of ripe banana, light American oak, a little bit of new make spirit. After adding a few drops of water the malt becomes fresher and less creamy, the sherry retreats into the background, the peat gets stronger, and it generally loses whatever complexity it had before.

Taste: opens with creamy malt and sherry sweetness throughout, an undercurrent of new make spirit and pine with some berries around the middle, then a creamy fade out with a touch of oak. After dilution it becomes sweeter but less mature with more pronounced green malt notes, the sherry largely fades, but the peat shows up earlier at the back

Finish: very creamy malt, vanilla, sherry residue, a touch of heathery peat and pine, lingering chocolate

As I have commented a number of entry-level OBs, this is a whisky built to a price point. It is perfectly acceptable given the current state of the market, but there's nothing here that can't be found for a bit more from their age dated expressions. It reminds me of Bowmore Small Batch, which held a similar position in that distillery's lineup and also took the distillery profile and mellowed it down. While I wouldn't say no to this if offered, it's nothing that I would reach for again.

The best I can say is that it's inoffensive and the finish is mildly pleasant. I can see how this might hold appeal for more casual drinkers and could be a gateway for JW Black drinkers into single malts, there's pretty much nothing on offer for the whisky enthusiast. It's not a bad whisky, it's just not for me.

Whisky Reivew: Double Barrel Highland Park/Bowmore

Douglas Laing is a long established independent bottler. Given their deep stocks from distilleries all over Scotland, they also produce their own blends and blended malts. The Double Barrel series combines malts from two different distilleries that presumably have complementary character.

This whisky was bottled at 46% without coloring or chill filtration.

Thanks to Lydia for the sample.

Double Barrel Highland Park/Bowmore

Nose: fresh dry peat smoke, earthy, raw onion without the sulfur, green malt, lemon furniture polish. After adding a few drops of water the peat fades to reveal more fresh malt and a little pine comes out, but it remains rather simple.

Taste: malt sweetness throughout, very green but not overly new make-y, acidic peat smoke enters quickly with prickles of oak tannins, a little heather underneath. After dilution the malt dominates and the bitter/acidic notes of peat and oak smooth out, but the heather is lost until the finish.

Finish: distinctly bitter - sharp peat smoke and oak, background malt

Despite the conceit that this is a blended malt combining the character of two different distilleries, most of what I get from this is the Bowmore. It doesn't seem fundamentally different from Bowmore's own NAS releases such as Legend or Small Batch, but slightly amplified at 46%. I get a little Highland Park heather on the palate, but it would be easy to miss if you're not paying attention. Overall I would give this one a miss as it doesn't seem to be significantly better than other NAS malts that can be had for less money.

Whisky Review: Highland Park 15 Year

While Highland Park 12 Year is in almost every malt maniac's cabinet and the 18 Year gets regular plaudits, the 15 Year has been a little forlorn within the lineup. Given pressure on their stocks, it looks like the distillery (or more likely the corporate folks at Edrington) has pulled the expression, probably to reserve more casks for the 18 Year and replaced it with Dark Origins at the same price point.

This is bottled at 43% probably with chill filtration and possibly without coloring (I've heard conflicting accounts of whether they use it or not now).

Highland Park 15 Year

Nose: maple syrup, integrated sherry, American oak (caramel, vanilla), baking spices, twiggy malt, heather, herbal, light peat, peach, strawberry, raspberry. After adding a few drops of water, the sherry and oak integrate, the baking spices resolve into woody cinnamon, and the peat fades away.

Taste: opens with sweet sherry, raisins, American oak with herbal/floral/heather-y peat overtones, mesquite honey, and darker sherry through the middle, fresh dry malt near the back as the sherry slips away to reveal a bit more peat and oak. After dilution the sweetness becomes stronger and brighter, with the oak and peat fading into the background.

Finish: sherry sweetness, gentle peat, malt, vanilla, a touch of oak and wine acidity

The defining feature of this Highland Park is the American oak. While, like its 12 and 18 year old counterparts, it is matured entirely in ex-sherry casks, the 15 Year is constructed with more American oak than European oak casks. This gives it character that you would expect from an ex-bourbon cask malt, but with plenty of sherry on top. The extra age has also softened the peat in comparison to its younger sibling, which gives it a much more approachable character. Instead of the whipsaw from sweetness to peat, the transition is more gentle. That's not to say that it's flat or insipid, though I do think that it, like the 12 Year, would have benefited from a bump to 46% and craft presentation. This goes double in Europe where it was bottled at 40% rather than 43% as it is in the States. Basically, if you enjoy sherry-driven malts and can find Highland Park 15 Year for under $80, which, after a cursory search appears to be possible in many places, it's a no-brainer. While the 18 Year gets most of the plaudits, in an era of rising prices the 15 Year can be a solid value.

Experimental Whisky: North British/Highland Park/Macallan Blend

I've made two different blends based on the pairing of North British grain whisky and Highland Park single malt, both components of Edrington's blends. The first contained only those two elements, while the second added Bunnahabhain to the mix. I finally got ahold of some Macallan and decided to see how that would influence the blend.

•17 mL Signatory North British 16 Year CS
•5 mL Highland Park 12 Year
•5 mL Highland Park 15 Year
•3 mL Macallan 12 Year
•3 mL water

North British/Highland Park/Macallan Blend

Nose: sweet grain, rich caramel, creamy vanilla, mossy peat with twigs, layers of sherry, fudge, thick malt, orange/lime peel, ham, incense, gently floral. After adding a few drops of water, the grain becomes more assertive, the sherry integrates with the peat and oak, and some seashore/shellfish notes emerge.

Taste: sweet grain with a layer of sherry on top up front, a solid undercurrent of well-integrated oak, becomes maltier in the middle with mossy peat and floral notes in the background, fades out with cotton candy and more grain. After dilution, it becomes sweeter up front and more integrated in the middle, with more peat, oak, incense, and baking spices at the back.

Finish: grain and malt, sherry residue, mossy peat, mild oak

It is perhaps unsurprising that this was more successful than the Bunnahabhain blend. Macallan and Highland Park are both owned by Edrington, which makes me suspect that they're sourcing their sherry casks from the same bodegas. Putting the two together amps up the sherry character without sidelining the peat as much as Bunnahabhain did. With that said, I don't think this is better than the blend made with Highland Park as the only malt component. This version may be more approachable, with the peat pushed somewhat into the background, but sometimes it's hard to beat the original.

Experimental Whisky: North British/Highland Park/Bunnahabhain Blend

After my first Highland Park/North British blend, I wondered what would happen if I added other components of Edrington's lineup to the mix. Bunnahabhain, while not currently under their ownership, has been a longstanding element of their blends.

•17 mL Signatory North British 16 Year CS
•5 mL Highland Park 12 Year
•5 mL Highland Park 15 Year
•3 mL Bunnahabhain 12 Year
•3 mL water

North British/Highland Park/Bunnahabhain Blend

Nose: balanced grain and malt, thick sherry, polished oak, and mild peat come together, caramel, herbal/floral, berries. After adding a few drops of water, it becomes creamier, with more vanilla and berries, the malt and grain integrate, and the sherry fades.

Taste: initial subdued grain/malt sweetness up front, sherry and berries take over around the middle, with undertones of oak, wood smoke, and peat at the back, fading out through slightly salty malt. After dilution, the malt and grain integrate, the saltiness comes in more early, the sherry fades into the background and integrates with the peat.

Finish: vegetal, grain, moderate oak, sherry residue, hints of peat

As Florin noted on my post reviewing Bunnahabhain 12 Year, it almost has too much flavor and that quality is noticeable here. I don't think I've ever had an unpeated single malt dominate a blend as much as Bunnahabhain does. This might have worked better with an unsherried Bunnahabhain as that felt like the component that was overwhelming the Highland Park, so further experiments will be warranted.

Experimental Whisky: Highland Park/North British Blend

An ongoing project is to explore blends that mimic the primary malts available to whisky conglomerates in Scotland. Edrington is the owner of two of the most iconic distilleries in Scotland, Macallan and Highland Park, as well as the less well-known Glenturret. They also own a stake in the North British grain distillery, which is shared with Diageo. Their primary blend, Famous Grouse, is one of the best selling in Scotland and is primarily based on their grain and malt distilleries.

While I didn't have any Macallan or Glenturret on hand, the different expressions of Highland Park provide a fairly broad palette of flavors. The 12 Year is smokier and has more European oak casks in its mix, while 15 Year is more refined and brings more American oak character.

•15 mL Signatory North British 16 Year CS
•5 mL Highland Park 12 Year
•5 mL Highland Park 15 Year
•3 mL water

Highland Park/North British Blend

Nose: well-integrated grain, sherry, and heathery peat, plus vanilla, burning twigs, malt, and something green. After adding a few drops of water, the sherry becomes brighter and the grain is more apparent.

Taste: sweet grain up front, quickly joined by solid sherry influence that carries through the palate, followed by dark chocolate, an undercurrent of earthy peat, and moderate oak tannins. After dilution, the sherry influence becomes brighter and stronger - spreading across the palate, with more grain and less peat showing up at the back.

Finish: solid oak, bittersweet grain, sherry residue, a touch of earthy peat

I was pleasantly surprised by just how good this was. The grain whisky reads almost like a bourbon cask malt, likely helped by the Highland Park 15 Year. The sherry character from the malts balances well and the smoke is more present than I would have expected. Admittedly, this would solidly qualify as a 'premium blend' if Edrington decided to put something similar out, but at the right price I would definitely buy it.

Whisky Review: Highland Park 12 Year Revisited

I can thank Highland Park for making peat palatable to me. During the early phases of my exploration of scotch, even a whiff would have been enough to be off-putting. And Highland Park, once I grew to like it, was enough to make me say "this is as much peat as I want in my whisky".

Well, that was over three years ago and things have changed. Now I can drink Octomore and think "yeah, that's kind of peaty." So I was curious to see what I would think of this whisky after a radical expansion of my palate.

Highland Park 12 Year

Nose: creamy honied malt, oatmeal, raisin-y sherry, berries and plums, mild green mossy/smoldering peat, cured meat/barbecue smoke, wood smoke/barrel char, vanilla, spearmint, floral heather, coffee beans/mocha. After adding a few drops of water, it becomes softer and more integrated, with more vanilla.

Taste: sherried malt sweetness up front, counterbalanced by mild oak tannins, with floral vanilla and citrus peel coming in around the middle and smoldering/mossy peat building towards the back. After dilution it becomes sweeter and rounder, with the oak and peat showing up at the very back.

Finish: expanding dry peat and oak, underlying malt, sherry in the background

While a lot of the same elements are present as I found the first time around, it seems much more mellow than it did then. The violent swing from sweet malt and sherry to deep, dark peat isn't there. Instead it's a very drinkable and enjoyable whisky for when I want something interesting but not overly challenging. It's possible that this is due to batch variation, as Highland Park has been noted for significant swings in quality over the years, but I suspect that I'm just used to more extreme whiskies now, so this doesn't pack the same punch that it used to for me.

With that said, I still highly recommend Highland Park 12 Year. It's a solid whisky at a solid price and even if it isn't quite the stunner that it used to be, it's still one that I quite like drinking.

Whisky Review: Gordon & MacPhail Highland Park 8 Year

Gordon & MacPhail are one of the oldest independent bottlers in Scotland, which means that they not only have access to single casks purchased from the distilleries, but also have long-standing contracts with distilleries around the country to fill new make spirit into their own casks. Thus, unlike many bottles from independents, this one does not have a vintage date, being composed of refill ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks that have matured for at least eight years before being proofed down to 43% and married for bottling.

Gordon & MacPhail Highland Park 8 Year

Nose: fairly light overall, moderate sherry presence - roughly an even split between danker notes and lighter ester-y notes, floral/smoky peat, malt underneath, surprising amount of alcohol presence, some youthful green notes, vanilla, savory, a touch of bacon. After adding a few drops of water, it becomes a lot maltier, with more integrated and dank sherry plus stronger peat, and a certain mineral quality emerging alongside growing savoriness and more heathery floral notes with time.

Taste: not particularly dense flavors, sherry influence, a thin layer of peat, and a moderate amount of oak throughout, malt and more peat show up at the back. After dilution, the sherry disappears quickly after a flash up front, it becomes noticeably flatter overall, but the diminished sherry gives more contrast to the peat at the back, though it is somewhat brightened by a burst of pepper near the end, alongside less than entirely pleasant malt notes, with some banana notes hanging around everything.

Finish: very wood-y and somewhat bitter, a little residual sherry and peat, a touch of dark chocolate,

Bad news first - this can't hold a candle to Highland Park 12 Year. They clearly come from the same distillery, but this one is weaker in every respect except for ABV. Even for a whisky composed from a mix of bourbon and sherry casks, the sherry is a less significant presence than one might expect - either the refill casks used for this whisky must have been filled a few times before, soaking most of the wine out of the wood, or the relatively brief time that it was aged wasn't enough to extract much of the barrel into the spirit.

With that said, while this was clearly made to be a budget single malt, it mostly delivers for the price. It's positioned to compete with blends and does admirably at the task. In a lot of respects, I think it would actually be a great malt for people who are looking to dip their toes into the world of peated whisky - the peat is present, but hardly overwhelming. To a degree, this is surprising, as the intensity of peat tends to wane with time and this is significantly younger than the much smokier OB 12 Year. But it is what it is. If there's at least $15 between this whisky and the OB 12 Year in your local market, then it's worth giving G&M some of your money. Much less than that and I'd stick with the better whisky.

Whisky Review: Highland Park 15 Year and Grant's Blended Scotch

Another set of provisional reviews, this time from a trip to the best scotch whisky bar in the Portland area, the Highland Stillhouse.

Highland Park 15

Nose: good Oloroso sherry influence, gentle peat rides under and over the sherry

Taste: more sherry than the 12 year up front, almost liquid raisins, nutty peat near the end, which gains some lovely raspberry chocolate mid-palate after adding a few drops of water

Finish: very light, pepper, slightly bitter peat and a touch of sherry

I had high hopes for this dram, but sadly couldn't dig as much out of it as I was hoping to find. Highland Park 12 is easily one of my favorite whiskies and a few more years in a slightly different mix of barrels seemed like it could produce an interesting product. Instead what I mostly got out of this was Macallan 12 with a layer of peat smoke on top. Not bad, but not terribly exciting either. Admittedly this was a single dram drunk at a bar, so I didn't get to sample it under ideal conditions, but it didn't make me want to rush out and buy a whole bottle. I probably will some day, but it's not high on the 'to buy' list.

Grant's Blended Scotch

Nose: macaroni & cheese, sour wine, brown sugar and oatmeal underneath, alcohol

Taste: sugary sweet vanilla up front, fades into porridge, bitter sherry going into the finish

Finish: sweetness returns, brown sugar

A drunk guy sitting next to me at the bar picked up and left before he had finished his dram, passing it off to me. While I was a little dubious, I wiped the rim with the whisky to kill any lingering germs, figuring that nothing was going to survive within the whisky itself.

Overall, I'd say that this is a mostly inoffensive blend. There are a few odd notes on the nose, but it mostly accomplishes its goal of being sweet in an uncomplicated fashion. If you're looking for something to drink on the cheap, you could do a whole lot worse than Grant's. With that said, you could also pay a bit more money and get a bottle of Isle of Skye 8 Year or, you know, some really good bourbon or rye.

Whisky Review: Highland Park 12-Year

The Highland Park distillery is currently the most northernly scotch whisky distillery, located on the Island of Orkney. Despite the name, this distillery is technically not part of the Highland scotch whisky region, instead being included in the loosely defined 'Islands' region off the Highland coast. The distillery also has the distinction of being one of the few distilleries to malt and dry its own barley, with an extra twist coming from the addition of heather to the locally cut peat that is used to fire the drying kilns. Last, but not least, their whisky is aged exclusively in used sherry barrels, which are either American or European oak and either first-fill or refill casks. This fact is highly touted in their product information, going so far as to claim that sherry casks are inherently superior to ex-bourbon casks. While I can agree that there are virtues to using ex-sherry barrels for aging, there are plenty of excellent whiskies out there that have never touched anything but used bourbon barrels. The Glenmorangie Original expression is an excellent example of what bourbon barrel aging can do for single malts. But really, that's my only complaint about Highland Park and could be easily remedied by reigning in the marketing department a bit. One last interesting note is that the American bottlings of Highland Park's 12- and 15-Year expressions are at 43% alcohol whereas the European bottlings are at only 40%, which probably helps to dial up the flavors of the American versions just a hair.

Highland Park 12-Year

Nose: Sweet sherry, smoky peat, a touch of vanilla, cacao and nuts. With a bit of water the sherry moves forward and transforms into more of a dry Oloroso style while the peat becomes more vegetal.

Taste: Big honey and juicy raisins up front, shifting through creamy pepper and chili mid-palate. With water, the upfront sweetness is slightly toned down, followed with orgeat, spice and some dry bourbon notes.

Finish: Drying, with dueling sherry and barbecued peat initially, with a touch of seawater at the very end. This is transformed into creamy unsweetened chocolate, coffee and gentle peat after the addition of a bit of water.

This is in my opinion a 'must-have' single malt. It's regularly in the low-$40 range and is only $36 in Oregon until the end of January. For being on the younger side, this whisky brings an incredible range of flavors that shift dramatically from the nose to the palate through the finish. The stark contrast between the explosive honey sweetness at the beginning of the sip and the intensely drying finish is delightfully shocking. Before drinking this scotch, I was generally under the impression that I didn't like peated whisky. This is one of the more lightly peated single malts out there and is thus a great way to ease into that aspect of scotch whisky. The smoke compliments the other flavors extremely well and doesn't dominate any part of the experience, especially after adding a few drops of water. Highland Park has been described as bringing in a little bit of flavor from each of the other scotch whisky regions and I would say that's a fair encapsulation. It's a multipurpose dram, being enjoyable whether you just want something to sip with company or if you want to sit and spend time thinking about all of the different flavors drifting across your palate. 

I'm really looking forward to trying the older Highland Park expressions as their youngest offering speaks extremely well of their skill in all aspects of whisky production.