750 ml, 46% ABV, 21 years of age
“This aged beauty of a dram greets with layered bouquet of citrus-laced iodine, cherry-studded malt, beachside campfire coals, and buttery French pastry. The spectrum of flavors arrive in complete harmony on the palate and finish with a touch of baking cocoa and black tea.” 98 Points, 2023 Ultimate Spirits Challenge
“Highland Park is made today, just as it was in 1798, using what they call their “five keystones of production”: aromatic peat, hand-turned floor maltings, sherry oak casks, cool maturation, and cask harmonization.
Their peat is hand-cut from the Hobbister Moor, no less than seven miles from the distillery. The moor is over 9,000 years old, going as deep as four meters. The barren woodless moor is composed layer upon layer of densely compacted vegetation. Rich in heather, the peat is dried naturally in the summer, then burned in ancient kilns, “where its heathery aromatic smoke infuses the malting barley.”
Highland Park is also one of the few distilleries that meticulously turns their malt by hand. Their barrels are cut from European and American oak, and crafted into staves at precisely 45°. This was the method used by the Vikings to make their longships watertight. This special Highland Park single malt is matured predominately in American ex-sherry casks for 21 years.”