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Highland Park 2001

My personal whisky Fargo

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@RantavahtiReview by @Rantavahti

21st Feb 2013

0

  • Nose
    23
  • Taste
    23
  • Finish
    22
  • Balance
    22
  • Overall
    90

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

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.

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11 comments

@CanadianNinja
CanadianNinja commented

You've got me really wanting to try this one!

11 years ago 0

@Rantavahti
Rantavahti commented

Great to hear that from you. So far this has been the biggest positive surprise in my "whisky career"...an positive upset such as the Islanders beating the Penguins in '93 playoffs

11 years ago 0

@vanPelt
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...

10 years ago 0

@Rantavahti
Rantavahti commented

That's a good point! I usually google the whisky that I'm looking for with connosr attached in the search, to get those that aren't listed. But then again, you have to know what to look for in those cases. All the "new acquaintances" easily get lost in the big archives of connosr...it would be nice to get version 2.0 of connosr.

10 years ago 0

@whiskydallas
whiskydallas commented

What a great review! I opened this Duty free beauty about a month ago. Your description of this HP is exactly the way that I found it with one exception. The delicate smoke hit me before all the other scents. thanks for a great review

10 years ago 0

@Rantavahti
Rantavahti commented

Thanks @whiskydallas! This is exceptional dram, especially when considering it's low ABV level.

10 years ago 0

@vanPelt
vanPelt commented

@Rantavahti - Did this remain your favorite Highland Park, after trying several others?

10 years ago 0

@whiskydallas
whiskydallas commented

I agree all things considered this is an excellent QPR

10 years ago 0

@Rantavahti
Rantavahti commented

@vanPelt Highland Park 18yo is better but that's no surprise considering the reputation it has, here's my review of it:

connosr.com/reviews/highland-park/…

I actually poured one HP18 yesterday for the sake of International Whisky Day. Have to admit that it just keeps getting better after every taste...

10 years ago 0

@vanPelt
vanPelt commented

I finally got to try this; I was not misled! This was great, very much honey and char. Thanks again for the lead.

9 years ago 0

@Rantavahti
Rantavahti commented

@vanPelt Nice to hear that from you! It's a shame I had this in a tasting and I don't have my own bottle. I guess I have take some more HP18 :)

9 years ago 0

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