Whisky Review: Highland Park 18

Single Malt

Style/Region: Highland (Islands)

Age: 18
Cask Type: Oak
Alcohol: 43%

Water added: Yes

Nose: Light with a mix of oak and brine with a hint of vanilla sweetness. After water was added, the sweetness is more pronounced with a hint of honey and apricot.

Mouth Feel: Thick, velvet and smooth.

Flavor: Smooth and sweet. Flavors of honey and apricot, with a slight oak and brine flavor in the back. Subtle hints of smoke.

Finish: Lingering smooth sweetness with a hint of oaky brine.

Overall Impressions: A very nice drink. It’s smooth, sweet and well balanced. A fine scotch for pretty much any occasion. The Highland Park distillery is located on Orkney island, making it the furthest north distillery in Scotland – which is a fun and novel distinction that does add a bit to the drink. Highland Park whisky is a drink I come back to over and over again – it’s comfort. I only wish some the higher-end, specialty flavors were easier to find in the States.

Whisky Review: Old Pulteney 12

Single Malt

Style/Region: Highland

Age: 12

Cask Type: Oak

Alcohol: 43%

Water added: Yes

Nose: Light with a honeyed sweetness and a hint of citrus fruit. After water was added, the nose is even more light with hint of honey and apricot.

Mouth Feel: Light at first with a moderately thick feel coming on with time.

Flavor: Relatively smooth and sweet. Light tones of honey and apricot, with a slight oak and brine flavor in the back.

Finish: Lingering smooth sweetness with a hint of brine.

Overall Impressions: A nice over all drink. Nothing really distinguishes it, but it’s a very good drink for the price.

Whisky Review: BruichLaddich 18

Single Malt

Style/Region: Islay

Age: 18

Cask Type: French Oak

Alcohol: 46%

Water added: Yes

Nose: Sweet, wonderfully sweet that caries across the room, overtones of honey and brandy. After water was added a distinct raisin nose combined with the slight honey sweetness.

Mouth Feel: Delightfully thick and oily.

Flavor: Complex, smooth and sweet. A raisin-oak flavor takes over., and hint of sweetness that is slowly overtaken by a light smooth peat smoke.

Finish: The smooth sweetness lingers a bit before slowly fading away. Very nice.

Overall Impressions: This is a very nice, sweet scotch that should be friendly to beginners, yet wonderfully complex for the snob. It was Mark C. Newton who got me to expand my blog into whisky and he blogs often of the wonderful scotch being put out by BruichLaddich. I now know why. While it is technically an Islay Scotch, this 18-year has more in common with the best of Highland. There is no peat to speak of. And that’s not a bad thing, not at all. The obvious influence of the French Oak cask and the sweet wine it aged makes this somewhat experimental (or progressive if you like), and a trip to the website shows that BruichLaddich has a lot of variety to offer. This is a bit pricey and many of the most interesting offers are tough to come by here in the States, but I’ll certainly be looking. It’s nice to have smooth, yet complex dram that is just as appropriate for the warm, sunny summer day as it is for the dreary, wet cold of winter.

Whisky Review: A.D. Rattray Cask Collection: Royal Lochnagar Distillery

Single Malt

Individual Cask Bottling

Non-chill Filtered

Style/Region: Highland

Age: 14 Year

Cask Type: Sherry

Distilled Date: July 17, 1996

Bottle Date: August, 4 2010

Alcohol: 56.3%

Water added: yes

Nose: Floral with honey. After water was added a sweet, honey nose comes through with considerable vanilla and hints of sherry.

Mouth Feel: light cream

Flavor: sweet smoothness and a bit of sherry, with slight oak and peppery tones.

Finish: smooth and muted, lingers with no overwhelming single flavor.

Overall Impressions: This is a very smooth, easy-going scotch and an excellent example of the Highland style. The Highland style combined with a sherry cask makes for a sweet and smooth drink that is very approachable and probably a scotch that a newcomer could enjoy. It’s not complex and doesn’t have the in-your-face feel of something like an Islay allowing it to come across as a bit more refined as a result. One of the best aspects of this drink is that it comes in full cask strength and allows me to water it down to the level I prefer. The A.D. Rattray Cask Collection: Royal Lochnager is a very pleasant drink that invokes the ideal of sitting in a plush leather chair with a good book (and quite possibly bunny slippers and pipe of fine tobacco).

Royal Lochnager has been around since 1845. Early on it gained the favor of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, hence permission to use the ‘royal’ name. It helps that it’s located rather close to the royal family’s summer residence at Balmoral Castle.

A.D. Rattray is a distributor and independent bottler that takes whisky from around Scotland and bottles it directly, without watering down, dying, or chill filtration. The principle purpose of this old merchant company in modern times is to bottle unusual and exclusive casks of scotch whisky chosen to reflect the six individual whisky regions of Scotland. I’ve previously been very impressed by A.D. Rattray, and I’m happy that the trend is continuing. I got this bottle at BevMo, and for the price, it can’t be beat.