Champagne Wishes: Highland Park 15 Year Old Scotch Whisky
We hope it is nearly quitting time for you in your Manhattan office, and on a Monday afternoon we cannot think of a better December delight to put in your head for happy hour! Peachy Deegan just loves scotch in the winter time, and has found a winner in the Highland Park 15 Year Old. It is a fabulously smooth, easy to drink single malt with a luxuriously light floral flavor and a gentle smokey finish. Both novice scotch drinkers and those experienced such as Peachy will love this high quality libation of desire! If you check out our travel column you will see there is a Take a Trip to Ireland and a Take a Trip to London column since Peachy Deegan has lived in both places....and we also have been to Scotland so we are pleased to kick off our coverage with such a worthy brand! We love when we taste something delicious from the mother country. Peachy Deegan has been attending scotch tastings since 1998, although she was by no means a professional when she started. She does believe scotch is an acquired taste.
We have heard that even Johnnie Walker's grandson Alexander drank the 20 year old and thought that Highland Park was the only whisky worth drinking. (Alexander was the largest blender of Scotch whisky at the time.) Whom You Know highly recommends the Highland Park 15 year and we look forward to featuring other single malts of the 12 year, the 18 year, the 25 year and the 30 year.
Tasting notes
Color: Full golden, clear and bright
Nose: Aromatic smokiness with a hint of camphor
Palate: Rich, initially sweet developing into a dry smokiness
Finish: Rich, long medium sweet then medium dry
Nose: Aromatic smokiness with a hint of camphor
Palate: Rich, initially sweet developing into a dry smokiness
Finish: Rich, long medium sweet then medium dry
Highland Park 15 Year Old has a remarkably complex nose with notes of camphor, peat and citrus fruits and flowers. The drying sensation on the finish leaves a rich smokey feeling and the immediate desire to refill your glass.
The quality of Highland Park rests within the five key fundamentals that set Highland Park apart. Highland Park’s five keystones include:
o Hand-Turned Malt which adds to the deliciously succulent, balanced layers of aromatic character;
o Aromatic Peat which gives a delectably seductive, luxuriant floral smokiness to Highland Park, unlike any other single malt Scotch whisky;
o Cool Maturation which enhances the smooth character found in Highland Park;
o Sherry Oak Casks that contribute to the whisky’s distinctive richness and multi-dimensional complexity; and
o Cask Harmonization which ensures that consistency and balance are achieved.Accolades
Media:
- Obvious Achievement in Champagne Wishes!
- F. Paul Pacult’s Spirit Journals’ World’s Best 100 Distilled Spirits
- Rating: 4-stars - Highly Recommended
- Wine Enthusiast’s Best Spirits of 2006
- Rating: Superb (90-95) – Highly Recommended
- Wine Enthusiast 18 Top “Other” Scottish Island Single Malts (October 2006)
- Rating: Superb (90-95) – Highly Recommended
- Wine & Spirits 20th Annual Buying Guide (Winter 2006/2007)
- Best Spirits of 2006
- The only whisky included in a round up of 5 spirits all together
- Santé Annual Buying Guide 2007 & Santé (Holiday 2006)
- Awarded Santé Gold Star for a product of exceptional quality
Industry Awards:
- San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2006
- Gold Medal winner
- International Wine & Spirit Competition 2006
- Silver Medal winner
- International Spirits Challenge 2005
- Silver Medal winner
- San Francisco World Spirits Competition
- Gold Medal at the 2007
About Highland Park
Established in 1798 on Orkney, Highland Park is the most northerly Scotch whisky distillery in the world. With windswept moors, craggy outcrops and ancient religious sites, Orkney is a land full of mystery and rich in anecdote. This, combined with the wind, rain, crushing waves and freezing hail of the Orkney environment provide the perfect setting for the home of one of the world’s best malt whiskies. The Highland Park range of single malt whiskies in the U.S. includes: 12 Years Old, 15 Years Old, 18 Years Old, 25 Years Old, 30 Years Old and Single Cask.
The quality of Highland Park rests within the five key fundamentals that set Highland Park apart. Highland Park’s five keystones include:
- Hand-Turned Malt which adds to the deliciously succulent, balanced layers of aromatic character;
- Aromatic Peat which gives a delectably seductive, luxuriant floral smokiness to Highland Park, unlike any other single malt Scotch whisky;
- Cool Maturation which enhances the smooth character found in Highland Park;
- Sherry Oak Casks that contribute to the whisky’s distinctive richness and multi-dimensional complexity; and
- Cask Harmonization which ensures that consistency and balance are achieved.
