Travel Retail remains a very important market for whisky. Loads of expressions are even created especially for the duty free range. Highland Park has a couple of those vintages. I previously tried the 1990, 1994 and 1998. Now it is time to try the 2001, bottled in 2012.

The nose is surprisingly sweet on honey, vanilla and candied ginger. Nice woodsmoke. The fruit reminds me of peaches and apricots and a basket full of juicy pears. It has even got some light brown sugar.

The mouthfeel is quite oily. The vanilla and honey have to move over immediately to allow some salty nuts to the fore. The peat, which was quite inconspicuous on the nose, now puts its foot down. All quite discrete though. The whisky is little outspoken, but still quite a step up from the classic 12 Year Old. It has a lot more body.

In the medium long finish, the spices start to speak. Think cinnamon and ginger, but also a soft pepper.

While it does not come close to the previously tasted (older) vintages for the duty free, this is quite a nicely balanced HP. I would buy a bottle. Thanks, Pat!

Comment on @markjedi1's review

Highland Park Vintage 2001 – distilled 2001, bottled 2012. This was made exclusively for global travel retail and duty free markets. It was my first taste of the Highland Park range and to be honest, I didn't know what to expect. What I didn't expect was the fact that this became one of my Top 10 whiskies so far.

Highland Park 2001 is rich and delicate with a nice small bit of roughness on the background. This had ounces of every important factor, that a good whisky can have. Delicacy, rich flavors and roughness. And they all came to me unexpected.

That's why I relate this whisky experience to my first encounter with the movie Fargo. Just like Fargo, Highland Park 2001 caught me off-guard in a good way. One of the best parts was that the 2001 vintage version introduced a smokier side of Highland Park.

Nose: Honey with floral notes and vanilla. Some ginger there as well.

Taste: Softly the vanilla is taken over by sweet honey. Smoothly salt and nuts combined with hints of fruit come to the palate. Spices and peat sign, seal and deliver.

Finish: Spicy cinnamon and ginger with subtle traces of spices and smoke. All with a lasting impression.

Balance: Dry but smooth and yet complex. Most important the complexity is in balance. Great whisky indeed.

@vanPelt commented:

Thanks for linking me here from your recent Warrior series reviews. This sounds great, like one I'd love to try.

I'm just musing now, but what a shame that I would never have found this review, because the bottle is not categorized on this website-- and it would take far too long to browse all your reviews, because we cannot sort them by score. I guess it really is better that we reviewers start hyperlinking more...