Bought – Highland Park Distillery, 14th August 2014
Ratings:
95.5/100 – Whisky Bible 2014
91/100 – Ralfy, of http://www.ralfy.com
Review: – Ralfy – Highland Park 18yo – YouTube (May 2012)
It’s been proving harder and harder to find miniatures of the HP (Highland Park) age-statement range, so a few months ago I decided to go to the source and look on the Highland Park website and their online shop. The 30yo was available, then a few days later (when I was about to place an order!) it had sold out. I contacted HP directly and they confirmed they no longer had any miniatures of the 30yo. They also said, and I quote “we are discontinuing all of our miniature range excluding the 12 year old.” (email received 9th June 2014). Eeek! Time to place an order, so I got the 18yo, 21yo and 25yo.
The HP 18yo is one of the true heavy-weights of the whisky world. I’ve never seen a bad word said against it. It gets one of Ralfy’s highest scores in nearly 500 reviews, and Jim Murray in his Bible says of the taste “eye closing beauty” and goes on to say “this is a must have dram”. It’s just a shame a full 70cl bottle is so expensive (currently about £90) when other great 18-year-olds like the Talisker are £25-£30 less. At least with a miniature I can experience that “must have dram” Mr Murray insists that I have. Don’t mind if I do Jim, old chap! It’s a shame it’s not his round, or I’d have it in a pint glass! 🙂
