< >

Highland Park                                             Back to Whisky Reviews

Highland Park will forever be associated with Magnus Eunson, the man often credited with the foundation of the distillery at the end of the 18th century. Eunson was not a preacher as received wisdom would have it. He was a beadle by day and a smuggler by night, the latter operation based from his bothy on the High Park above Kirkwall where Highland Park Distillery now stands.

First released in 1997, Highland Park immediately found favour with whisky writers and enthusiasts all over the world. It is a perfectly balanced single malt with a toffee sweetness and a mouthwateringly smokey finish. It was awarded the ultimate accolade in 2005, when US spirits writer F. Paul Pacult named it “Best Spirit in the World”. He states; “After 25 years’ experience, it fits my profile of what makes a perfect whisky, which is to say it’s totally in harmony, there are no rough edges and everything is melded together brilliantly.”

For a review of a Highland Park dinner featured as part of HopScotch 2008, Click here.  Whiskies tasted included 12, 18, 25 and 40 yo.

Highland Park 18 Yr (Highland - Orkney)

Michael Jackson – 92 – n. warm, notably flowery. Heather honey, fresh oak, sap peat, smoky fragrance. Very aromatic and appetizing; t. lightly salty, leafy, pine nuts, lots of flavour development: nuts, honey, cinnamon, dryish ginger; f. spicy, very dry, oaky, smoky, hot.[1]

Jim Murray – 95 – n. an empty honey jar which once held peaty embers.  An enormous nose of excellent consistency, with salty butter and burnt honeycomb is always present; t.  Beautifully sweet…..beautifully chewy, a touch oily and wholly substantial; f. some citrus, heathery notes, controlled oak and outstanding cocoa and peat: long and rewarding; b. a consistent dram of enormous weight and complexity, bottle after bottle, and never short of breathtakingly brilliant: the ace of the Highland Park pack. [2]