Review: Highland Park 25 years Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Ever see the 1969 classic western, True Grit?  A trusting man is murdered by his drunk and degenerate gambler, hired hand.  The trusting man's daughter, Mattie Ross, a plucky fourteen year old farm girl, goes to the town of her father's murder seeking justice.  Justice is elusive.  The murderer has fled to lawless territory and the law seems to be ineffectual.  Mattie hires an aging, boozing US marshal, Rooster Cogburn (portrayed by John Wayne) because he has "true grit."  Great movie and brilliantly re-made in 2010 by Joel and Ethan Coen.  Pictured above and below is actress, Hailee Steinfeld, as Mattie Ross in the 2010 remake. 

Both films got me thinking about 'true grit' and how elusive it really is in the world we live in.  How many people do you know display such depth of character?  I can name two people in my entire life and one of them has passed away.  It seems today, especially in the workplace, that integrity, justice and fairness are jingoisms touted, but rarely present.

So, what does this have to do with Highland Park 25 year old single malt scotch whisky?  Simple.  In my crazy mind, I think it displays true grit.  How is that for a ridiculous segue into a whisky review?

Great single malt has character of a rare quality like great people you may encounter in your lifetime.  Age statements are unimportant.  It is character.  Talisker 10 is a mere 10 years old, but has a depth of character far beyond its years, much like the young Mattie Ross.  Other single malts are very old, and so we assume great character when it may not be there, much like elderly people we know who are frankly not good people.  So, just because Highland Park 25 years is a very aged single malt, we have no guarantees.  We have only the hope that with all that time, it evolved into something worthy of admiration.

Nose (undiluted)
Damp Fall leaves, exotic kitchen spices that hint of India and Thailand, and cold sea air mixed with peat.  Restrained but undoubtedly powerful.

Palate (undiluted)
Explodes upon the palate!  Very intense, concentrated, aromatic flavors of this heavy bodied single malt rain down upon you like the vengeance of God.  Fear and trembling.  This is very powerful.  While a heavy mouthfeel is present, the flavors are, nevertheless, well defined.  You can easily pick out chewy butterscotch, spiced pineapple, dried apricot, fine oak, spicy Cohiba cigar, and marmalade as they fill your palate.  The dominant flavor towards the end is a Florida orange.

Finish (undiluted)
Long!  Wood smoke and malty cinnamon becomes a poweful orange rind and ancient oak that demands your complete attention.  An awe inspiring example of an extremely masterful single malt.

Add Water?
Highly recommended!  Highland Park 25 is 48.1% abv.  It needs water!  It is just too pure, too powerful.  Kinda like trying to look at the sun or the face of God.

How much water?  Pour a double (1.5 oz) and add a teaspoon of distilled water.  Adding this amount of water, however small you may consider it, truly reminds me of what makes scotch magical.  It's ability to change so much with so little.

Nose (diluted)
More peat and sea air is released.  However, the damp leaves are still present and pleasing your nose.

Palate (diluted)
Initially becomes sweeter, gentler, more loving.  Much less explosive upon tasting.  Nevertheless, still powerful.  Mid-palate presents much more wood smoke and a rich, malty taste that is quite mesmerizing.  Waxed heather, hazelnut and black ground pepper too.

Finish (diluted)
Super long finish that delivers flavors of lime, freshly chopped mint and cardamon.

General Impressions
First of all, this is not a whisky for a scotch newbie!  Stay away.  It will turn you off to scotch, and that is something I don't want to happen.

It is so powerful, that upon your first sip, you will begin to uncontrollably salivate.  A huge mistake with this scotch would be committed by taking a big slug.  Take only the tiniest of sips.  I mean really tiny.  There is such kick to this whisky.  Hence, the need for water.  Water is important for another reason.  It brings out more interesting flavors.  I definitely prefer this scotch with a teaspoon of water.  Makes all the difference.

Gift?
Yes, most definitely!  A great gift for someone who knows scotch whisky and therefore can appreciate it. 

Price Point
Price varies depending upon where you are.  In any event, it is always expensive, but worth it.  A truly special gift for the scotch connoisseur.  Highly recommended!

Peers
In the 20 plus year single malt category the question will come up as to how this malt ranks against others.  Highland Park 25 ranks very high.  Always popular at scotch tastings.  Is it the best?  Well, now it is a question of whether or not BMW is better than Mercedes.  While I think it is great, I think the Balvenie 21 year old Portwood has a bit more complexity and a flavor profile that I find more nuanced.  In any case, Highland Park 25 beats the hell out of Glenfiddich 21 and a host of others.  In conclusion, it exhibits undeniable "True Grit!"

Alternative Opinion
Don't trust me?  Try Chip Dykstra of  The Rum Howler who has agreed to review this single malt and post his astute impressions. 

Cheers!

Jason Debly

Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2011. All rights reserved except for images of True Grit (2010) which are posted for the purposes of nostalgia, entertainment and education.  Those images belong to Paramount Pictures.

15th Annual New Brunswick Spirits Festival

Recently, I attended the 15th Annual New Brunswick Spirits Festival held in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada at the Delta Hotel.  I thought I'd post a note as to how it was.  Maybe you might attend in the future?

First of all, you get a lot of value for your hard earned money.  Let's consider the costs of attendance. 

$25 buys you a ticket to a tasting of whisky and cheese pairings, five whiskies and cheese to be specific.  And get this:  the tasting will be lead by Martine Nouet, a renowned whisky critic and the first editor of Whisky Magazine in France.  If you visit the Whisky Magazine website you will note that nearly every whisky tasting note is by Martine.  Her tasting notes are well written and in the same league as those of the late, great critic, Michael Jackson. 

Her current passion is pairing whiskies with cheese, as well as cooking with the spirit.  She resides in Islay and may be launching a cooking school in the upcoming year. 
(Below is a picture of your whisky blogger and Ms. Nouet.)

Needless to say, her astute views on whisky are worth hearing.  I can confirm this, as I was an attentive listener on Thursday, November 25th:

Ms. Nouet commenced the tasting by suggesting people pour a tiny little bit of whisky on the top of their hand and note the scent.  I never heard of that before.  We all got a kick out of that and then moved on to what she terms the three moments of pleasure:  eye, nose, palate!

Glenfiddich 15 years old Solera
Ms. Nouet selected Camembert, a soft creamy cheese of Normandy.  It certainly complimented the classic, and always impressive, Speyside taste of the Glenfiddich 15yrs.  She also suggested a bite of oat cake or apricot as a suitable pairing for this scotch.

Tyrconnell Irish Whiskey
This light and very sweet Irish whiskey was paired with Brie.  I could not appreciate the pairing, as I found the whisky too sweet for my liking.  However, no one else in attendance seemed to mind.

Balvenie Portwood 21 year old
Wonderful sherry nose ushers in a most memorable taste experience.  Rich sherry with delicate braids of dark red fruit, developing complexity as it dries upon the palate.  The Balvenie was paired with Canadian cheddar.

Highland Park 15 years
An excellent single malt having plenty of heather which Martine thought was best complimented by smoked Gruyere cheese.  This whisky and the smoked cheese worked well.

Laphroaig Cairdeas
An incredible whisky!  The complexity that we, whisky lovers, forever seek.  A real show stopper!  A tiny sip explodes upon the palate with peat, smoke and rich citrus like grapefruit and limes.  Wow!  Ms. Nouet made a mind blowing cheese pairing:  Shropshire blue.  This is an English cheese that can be best described as cheddar infused with Danish blue.  Take a sip of whisky and then a bite of this cheese and you are in heaven!  Needless to say, the whisky promptly sold out the following evening at the Festival's on-site liquor store.

. . .

Ms. Nouet is a person who genuinely loves whisky.  You can tell that she is not in it for money.  There is nothing slick or commercial about her presence.  Just integrity and European sophistication.  A refreshing change from 'brand ambassadors' who flash megawatt plastic smiles, in sharp suits and the latest coiffure while recounting the minutiae of whisky production without any real understanding of what he or she is talking about.

. . .

So, for $25 you were able to attend the above noted tasting.  A bargain right?  How about this?  For $10 more, you could attend another whisky tasting held following Martine's expert seminar.  I chose the Highland Park tasting, but I did have choices.  Gordon & MacPhail or Chivas & Glenlivet.  $35 for two scotch tastings!  I chose Highland Park.  Mind you, it was not an easy decision as I have always admired Gordon & MacPhail, an independent bottler, that seem to always have great scotch to tempt the serious whisky nut.

Marc Laverdiere is the Highland Park brand ambassador, and again like Ms. Nouet, is a genuine whisky fan.  I think the story on him is that he was a retired civil servant who approached his favorite distillery, Highland Park, about being a brand ambassador, and convinced them with his charming French accent!  People like him and Ms. Nouet make the best brand ambassadors because their affection for their respective whiskies is genuine.  They make a connection with the consumer that newly minted MBAs simply can't achieve.  Take note spirits industry.

Mr. Laverdiere walked us through Highland Park 12, 15, 25 and 30yrs.  The whisky that stopped me dead in my tracks again was the 25yr old.  Just simply one of the greatest single malts widely available today.  I bought a bottle the following evening and will provide a more detailed tasting note once I have had a chance to become acquainted with it.  But for now, I can say you will taste concentrated caramel, hickory, toffee and smoke.  The ultimate whisky gift for the holiday season.

Mr. Laverdiere spoke about the blending process of Highland Park whiskies.  The distillery chooses fifty casks that are blended to make various bottlings (ie. 12, 15yrs, etc.).  He pointed out that while the single cask or barrel whiskies have lately been in vogue, there is a risk.  You are at the mercy of a particular cask.  If it isn't great, you will suffer for it, as I can attest with Jack Daniel's Single Barrel.  By blending fifty different, high quality casks, the distillery is able to achieve a high standard of quality that is more elusive for distilleries working only with a single barrel.

. . .

The showcase of the Festival takes place the following evening where for the price of $60 in advance you can sample as many different whiskies as you wish.  Technically, you can purchase a ticket at the door for $70, but that is provided it does not sell out, as it has for the past three years.



















For me, this was the great discovery of the evening.  Clynelish Distiller's Edition, 1992.  Sherried greatness with some cranberries, oak and spices ending in smoked mackerel.  Excellent complexity of sherry flavors.

I also tried the Highland Park Earl Magnus 15 yrs and was knocked over by it.  I went to buy a bottle but all sixty had sold out within an hour!

The NB Spirits Festival, as well as any festival enables its participants to sample a wide range of whiskies.  A great way to experiment a little without making the mistake of buying a bottle of something you dislike.  So, next time there is a whiskey festival, give it a go, you may make a great discovery!

Cheers!


Jason Debly

Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2010. All rights reserved.

Highland Park 25 years, Macallan 12 years, Tamdhu and Friends

This past Friday afternoon, I dropped by George’s office around 4:30pm. George, you will recall, is the fiftyish, personal injury lawyer, who has bottles upon bottles of unopened scotch given by clients as gifts. Since January, I have been endeavoring to drop by periodically on Fridays for impromptu scotch tastings. Just doing my part to make this place a better world.

“Brent will be dropping by,” George said.

I was ok with that. I had never met Brent, but he, like George, was another local personal injury lawyer, whose pulse quickened at the sound of an ambulance whine beyond the pane glass windows.

While we waited, not wanting to be idle, as that would be playing into the devil’s hands, George set a bottle of Macallan 12 years old and a previously opened Bowmore 10 years on the table.

I have never been a huge Macallan 12 years fan. Why? I just found the flavor profile to be just one flavor: sherry! It’s not poor quality, nor does it taste cheap, but rather one-dimensional and that dimension being: sherry! Nevertheless, none of these closely held opinions prevented me from having a dram while we waited for Brent. The nose was spicy vanilla. The palate was sherried in a high quality fashion. A little vanilla tucked in there I suppose but again not a lot else. George, on the other hand, enjoyed it immensely.

We heard the office door open from down the hall. George beckoned Brent to come on down much like Bob Barker. Brent appeared in the doorway with a litigation briefcase (one of those brief cases that looks like it could hold an accordion or something an encyclopedia salesman would be armed with). Clad in a navy blazer, button down shirt, rep tie, salt and pepper beard, studious glasses and a grin, he surveyed the boardroom table, the opened Macallan and the two tumblers.

George has many great qualities, but unfortunately his sense of thrift can interfere with a proper scotch tasting. The office tumblers are dark tinted blue glass that he picked up at the “Dollar Store.” I think they are phony “Blue Mountain” glasses. The authentic one’s aren’t suitable for drinking scotch let alone their counterfeit cousins.

“If we are going to drink scotch I thought we would have proper drinking glasses,” Brent declared as he reached into the cavernous briefcase and produced three crystal tumblers. We had not been introduced and I already liked the guy.

The next item he withdrew from the briefcase was a bottle of Highland Park 25 years, a bottle of water and a dark chocolate bar. Now, I knew for sure this guy was ok.

Brent poured some Highland Park 25 year old single malt, a scotch that I have only tried at Highland Park organized tastings. He insisted that we add a little water to open it up a bit.

Highland Park 25 yrs

Nose (diluted)
Damp leaves and spices.

Palate (diluted)
Medium to heavy bodied, chewy toffee, spice, wood smoke and marzipan.

Finish (diluted)
Long! Woodsmoke and malty. It’s a dream.

I really, really, really liked this single malt. So much so that I knew I would buy be buying a bottle in spite of its high price. George and Brent were in agreement.

We also tried the Highland Park with some dark chocolate that was 90% cocoa. It worked oh so well!

Highland Park 25 has a high alcohol content of I believe 47%. Accordingly, I expected a bit of a bite or to be taken aback by its strength. Not the case here at all. If you visit the website for Highland Park they have a video tasting and the taster, makes reference to it initially overpowering the palate and that it is not for the novice drinker. I disagree. This is so beautifully smooth with many nuances and subtleties that even a newbie can appreciate it.

In fact, we were able to test it on a newbie, namely Mike, the custodian who happened by. He preferred it neat and was enthusiastic about it too.  A more recent tasting note for Highland Park 25 is available by clicking here.

Brent also had another bottle for us to try. A bottle of Tamdhu. It did not have an age statement on it.

Tamdhu

Nose (diluted)
Fresh cut grass, peat.

Palate (diluted)
Light bodied, sweet, key lime pie, rosemary.

Finish (diluted)
Short, a little watery (but in a good, cleansing way).

Brent explained that he picked up several bottles of this Tamdhu because it was great value for money and therefore functioned as a good daily drinker. We agreed.  I would definitely buy the Tamdhu as a casual drinking dram. 

I should also point out that the Macallan 12 years is by no means a poor single malt or flawed.  Brent and George really like it.  In the United States, it is enormously popular, but for me I would opt for something else.  Bottom line:  Everyone should try Macallan 12 years and judge for themselves.

In any event, that’s all for now.

Cheers!


Jason Debly

Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2011. All rights reserved.