The web traffic generated when the bottles went online made the Highland Park website crash so you couldn't finish your order. People were also queueing outside the distillery to get a bottle, so what a start for this bottling, eh? :) Bottom line is that it sold out in a flash when the website was working...
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| Official picture by Highland Park |
Anyway, this bottling is the first of 5, in a series called the 'Keystone'-collection where Highland Park will be focusing on the following:
- Aromatic Peat
- Sherry oak
- Cool maturation
- Harmonisation
- Hand turned malt
This one, the 'Hobbister' is named after the moor where Highland Park cuts its peat used in about 20% of their production. The whisky itself is supposedly made up of 6yo Highland Park from 1st and refill ex-bourbon casks, mixed with some 12yo...
So how did I get my hands on some?
As I mentioned above, this sold out in a flash, leaving a lot of people frowning.
Luckily a bottle was offered up as samples by Thorfinn Craigie from the Highland Park Appriciation Society on Facebook and then kindly administered by Ian Moir- Huge thanks, gents!
The 'price'? A donation to RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) This ended up with a total donation of £700 for the RNLI, some of it also raised at a local tasting on Orkney. Well done, all! :)
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| The cheque of £700 is handed over to the RNLI by Thorfinn Craigie, Martin Markvardsen and Ian Moir - Picture by Jim Lyngvild (thanks for the use, Jim) |
Highland Park 'Hobbister' 51,4%, 1200 bottles, Distillery bottling (RRP was £75)
Colour is pale amber
Nose:
Quite upfront with lots of burning twigs and leaves, like burning your garden cuttings, but underneath you get some very nice tropical fruit and quite a bit of floral notes, like fabric softener.
After a while the peaty smoke notes retreats somewhat allowing a more citric and malty edge to peak but also revealing a few notes of young whisky.... this, however, comes and goes and is never uncomfortable in any way and I fell it somehow carries the floral forwardTaste:
A good burst of floral peat and honey to start with, then lots of crisp malt and a brown sugary note... There's also some vanilla pods and hint of smoked pineapple here.
The sherry influence is coming through a bit more here with hints of candied apple and charred oak. The floral peat pops back up mid- to end palate and leaves a taste of something pleasant reminding me of kissing my grandmother on the cheek, like a mix of perfume and cigar...
What do I think if this? Quite good, actually - its very lively and fresh Highland Park... and very different too, I think with its very aromatic peat style. The whole thing is quite well put together and it constantly bounces back and forth producing both young and notes of older whisky. Finally bottling this at 51,4% was the right choice as I think some of its flavours would have gotten lost at a lower abv%
87/100!
