I'm intrigued that this independent bottling of Highland Park from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") is considered peated (and not even lightly peated!) instead of oily and coastal, the usual category determination. I have never had a well-and-truly-peated bottling of Highland Park, so I'm ultra curious about this one.
Part of a trio of 13 year Highland Parks released by SMWS as part of a distillery deep dive, this is the second one I'm partaking in. I love independently bottled Highland Park, which is coastal, fragrant, lightly sweet and salty, and filled with personality.
This comes from a revatting project at SMWS where they took whisky that had spent 9 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, then split it up and finished it in various first-fill ex-bourbon barrels: so each bottle has had a unique finish. This one comes in at 61.3% ABV, and I'm super curious. Here are the official tasting notes:
A bright and superbly chiselled nose that initially displayed lemon air freshener, green herbs, bouillon stock, ham hough terrine and English mustard powder heat. Unusually peated and powerful - even for this old Orcadian Viking! Water made it sharper, more bready, yeasty and directly on lemon juice. The palate displayed an immediate wealth of camphor and tarry peat. Chalky notes, beach pebbles, seawater, olive oil and gauze. Reduction brought herbal cough medicines, smoked teas, aniseed liqueur and beach bonfire smoke. Wonderful and evocative whisky. At 9 years of age, we combined selected casks from the same distillery. We then returned the single malt into a variety of different casks to develop further. This is one of those casks. Originally from refill bourbon hogsheads, this was further married in a first fill barrel.
Wow! "Superbly chiselled nose"??? I am curious about the lemon-and-herbs here, since combined with peat, I usually associate that with Laphroaig. I'm also curious about the ham-and-mustard-powder. Smoked tea! Aniseed! I'm on board.
This bottle is nicknamed "A Horned Beast" by the SMWS, which *must* be a rather cheeky play on the endless Viking-themed nonsense that Highland Park relies on in its tiresome marketing campaigns. Here are a few more names that Highland Park should use: "Treasure Chest Full of Old Wizard Clothes" ... "An Ogre Drinks Alone and Cries" ... "Tolkien Spins in His Grave" ... "Eating Good Soup From a Skull."
Let's find out more:
Nose: Wow, unusual. Lavender and sweet peat - reminds me of the recent Ardnamurchan I had. Upon deeper inhalation, I get waxy lemon Starburst candy (like with Clynelish!) and something like - not kidding - ham soup stock. It's surprisingly sweet and delicious. The waxiness also catches me off-guard.
With a touch of water, I do get the vaguest hints of aniseed, and something more like the embers of a beach bonfire where someone had a hot cup of earl grey with lemon cookies and honey. Also some linseed oil, faintly - like what you season a baseball glove with.
Mouthfeel: Thinner than the previous bottle ("I See Seashore") but still oily and viscous.
Palate: It goes from sweet on the nose to even sweeter on the tongue: honey, bright lemon candy (tart and sweet), wax, seashells, and ... yes, I'll go with gauze. Something very hazy and medicinal tasting. The overriding flavors are sweet, tart, and smoky, in turns.
With a touch of water... it stays mostly the same. A hair more smoke/ash. Otherwise, waxy chalky lemon and faint medicinal notes. A tiny bit of something meaty.
Finish: Light smoke, fruit, honey, and tea. In descending order. Surprisingly smoky/ashy.
Verdict: Despite SMWS declaring this to be medium-peated, I would definitely say this is lightly peated. It's quite salty, sweet, waxy, fragrant, and smoky mostly in the finish.
Although I still suspect the name is a jibe at the Highland Park marketing complex, I think it actually does a disservice to the whisky: if this is a horned beast, it's a very quiet, sleepy, gentle one. This is a decently refined whisky, full of flavor and complexity, and never "beastly." I like it a lot, but it seems miscategorized to me. Strongly reminiscient of both Ardnamurchan and Clynelish, with a saltier, more oceanic profile perhaps. Not as raw-boned in its sweetness as Ardnamurchan; not as cloyingly waxy in its lemon tartness as Clynelish.
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