Highland Park Whisky Live 10 Year Old

Youthful Festival Joy

Reviewed by
Connosr member:

markjedi1

Date:

18th Mar 2010

Reviewer rating:

About this score:

The average score for this whisky is 85.

Highland Park samples Try before you buy >>

Best price to buy online:

Find the best price to buy Highland Park whiskies online

Tasting Notes by markjedi1

Highland Park released this bottle to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the London festival WhiskyLive (which took place in February 2010). I was lucky enough to have a member of this community (thanks @Stu_R!) to send me three bottles.

Only 600 were created at a cask strenght of 59,3% ABV. The cask was handpicked by famous whisky writers Rob Allanson and David Broom.

Let me say beforehand that this is only my second HP so far. I only had the HP 12 before and didn't make any notes at the time, so I have little to compare this dram to.

The color is a beautiful gold on the verge of amber. The legs in the glass are magnificent.

Straight

The nose is grand, with soft peat, caramel and dried fruit, primarily raisins. Quite grown up. The high ABV doesn't 'sedate', if you know what I mean. It hides it's young age wonderfully.

It has a silky mouthfeel with sweet caramel and dried fruit from the nose doing a fantastic pas-de-deux with the slightly bitter peat. There is also some heather and brown sugar with some caramelised orange peel to make it complete. Masterfully spiced.

The finish is very nice and long with spicy caramel playing first violin.

Nevertheless, this is a bit too hot for me.

With Water

Water doesn't do the nose any good, with slightly salty touches and even something like fried bacon. Luckily it is fast overtaken by sweet fruit.

It's better in the mouth, though. Almost chewable. Thanks to the lessened ABV, the caramel and heather come out nicely.

The finish remains long and spicy.

The bottle cost 50 quid at the festival and is almost sold out. There are still a few bottles left on the HP website (albeit at 55 quid). I quite liked this dram and got the complete range - bar the very expensive 40 year old and all are minitatures except for this one - and plan a complete HP tasting soon.

Whisky details

Distillery/Brand:

Highland Park

Bottling:

Highland Park Whisky Live 10 Year Old

Region:

Island

ABV:

59,3%

Colour:

Full Gold

Highland Park Whisky Live 10 Year Old Youthful Festival Joy Reviewed on 2010-03-18T21:16:00 scoring 83/100 by markjedi1

Subscribe to follow this discussion

Comments

jdcook wrote:

Another HP I wish I could get my hands on... :p

18 March 2010 22:08

Stu_R wrote:

Very pleased to see you enjoyed this Mark. I was quite impressed with it at the show and am very much looking forward (thanks to you) to tasting and comparing this bottling more carefully soon.

18 March 2010 23:14

galg wrote:

hapily my friend went and got a bottle. tasting notes soon...

19 March 2010 05:16

galg wrote:

loved it! see my notes here as well.

or : http://whiskyisrael.co.il/2010/07/07/quick-dram-highland-park-10-yo-for-whiskylive-2010-london/

13 July 2010 07:42

Jean-Luc wrote:

I suppose these will be quite collectible. Mark, have you kept any unopened?

13 July 2010 12:39

galg wrote:

too bad. they will, but we've opened ours...

i dont belive in collecting. whisky is supposed to be enjoyed and drunk. not collect dust on the shelf...

13 July 2010 12:41

Jean-Luc wrote:

I couldn't agree more @galg

13 July 2010 12:42