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Liquor Review: Highland Park 12

Published on August 5th, 2008 in Liquors of the Month, Scotch by Hunter

Highland Park 12 We here at BoozeBasher constantly scour the shelves of every local liquor store in hopes of discovering the perfect liquor. The Scotch section is usually my first stop. Unfortunately, my budget usually prevents me from enjoying too many luxurious single malts, but this time payday was afoot, and I decided to splurge on Highland Park 12. It’s always sort of frightening to me to spend about $53 on a liquor I have never tasted. However, I remembered that a couple of our forum members had suggested the Highland Park brand, and the description on the box got me salivating to the point of no return. It was an awesome buy.

Highland Park 12 is created on the islands of Orkney off the northern coast of Scotland that Highland Park single malt whiskey has called home since 1798. This Scotch is hand-turned and smoked over aromatic peat and placed in high-quality Spanish sherry oak casks and aged for 12 years in the cool Orcadian air. After aging, the best casks are “harmonised” (blended together and allowed to settle) for consistency. This process produces a complex yet smooth whiskey that has been called “the greatest all-rounder in the world of malt whiskey.”

Highland Park 12 comes in a classy black box that seems to exude exclusivity and confidence. I like my liquor a bit snooty. Uncorking the bottle presents the lucky owner with a very soft and inviting honey-sweet bouquet with hints of fruitiness. In my modest experience, I have yet to smell a Scotch with nearly the same sweet and gentle scent. If the description on the box didn’t get the saliva flowing, the scent is sure to do just that. If it doesn’t, you should have your drinking card revoked.

Even though Highland Park goes so far as to provide an informative lesson on how to properly taste their product, we tasted the 12-year on the rocks for consistency’s sake. When on ice, the nose takes on a more peaty muscle, but the taste is surprisingly gentle. Up front, there is a mild to moderate smokiness that then gives way to a very pleasing peaty finish and a slight warming. The first sips lean towards the smokey side of the Scotch spectrum, but after drinking more of the whiskey, the smokiness gives way to a more peaty taste. Highland Park 12 seems to slowly morph your taste-buds so that by the time you are on your second or third drink, the Scotch becomes a completely different slightly sweet-tasting, rich peaty concoction with a slight woody and smokey haziness in the finish. I am personally not a fan of smokey Scotches, but Highland Park 12 gives just the right amount of the flavor to complement and even enrich the other subtleties in the whiskey without drowning anything in smokiness. The finish is just amazing, and the aftertaste that gently lingers will make you wish that you could afford gallons of this stuff.

At 86-proof, you might expect the drunk from Highland Park 12 to be rather serious, but that wasn’t the case. This Scotch gave me a rather quick buzz, and subsequent drinks slowly added to it. There was never a point of complete intoxication for me, but the hefty buzz it gave me lasted throughout the whole night. This stuff really seems stick with you for a good while. I certainly could have gotten sloshed from Highland Park 12, but I really didn’t want to waste the yummy taste on drunken taste-buds. I wisely chose to stop after the four drinks to save my delicious liquor bounty for another day. Unfortunately, I felt the hangover after consuming Highland Park was a little unfair. I never really got drunk, but the headache the next morning was rather punishing. I also experienced slight nausea after the headache subsided. Perhaps that’s just the price you have to pay to have such a glorious tasting experience for the extent of an evening.

Despite the moderate hangover and the somewhat high price for Highland Park 12, I give it my full endorsement. The truly magnificent tasting experience should be enjoyed by anyone who favors Scotch. I would put Highland Park 12 in the same league as Oban 14 as far as taste goes, and the price is significantly less. With another payday right around the corner, I might just have to spring for another bottle. Not that my current one is empty; I just don’t want to endure a day without Highland Park 12 smiling at me from my home bar. Do yourself a favor, and treat yourself to a bottle. You deserve it.

Sipability – 9.0

August 08 Mixability – N/A