Highland Park 25 Year Old 1988 Cadenhead Small Batch
Leather
0 189
Review by @markjedi1
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
- Balance~
- Overall89
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Distribution of ratings for this:
- Brand: Highland Park
- Type: Scotch
- Region: Island
- ABV: 55.7%
Despite the fact that no less than 1086 bottles were released, this one is very hard to find already. The power of the blogs, I suppose, as it has been praised with scores of 90 and (much) higher. Due to my holiday, I missed this release, but luckily a sample was waiting for me when I returned (thanks, Jeroen). Let us see if it can capture my imagination as well.
Soft but great sherry nose with loads of stewed wild cherries and blackberries. Dades and figs join in, as does some balsamico – the top shelf stuff, mind you. Add some roasted nuts. And a cup of espresso. Faux-leather sofa. Some smoke makes it picture perfect. But again, surprisingly soft.
It all returns on the palate, but with a salty edge. Much more smoke now. This is big and complex, to be sure. Spicy too. Black pepper, cloves and again some balsamico. But it does turn a bit dry, as if I am licking leather. The oak roars.
The nuts and espresso return in the long, again fruity, finish.
The nose alone I would rate 90 or even 91, but on the palate it drops a few points in my book.
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Hi there, I bought a bottle of this at Cadenhead in London and what a whisky. The colour is amazing, dark chocolate, blackberry and rich coffee. I tried this with varying amounts of water and it holds water very well. I've taken half a bottle in two weeks and have decided to leave the rest until Christmas. Big fat whisky, like drinking a chocolate gateaux with minted coffee and blackberries. The mouth was bees wax oil, fudge, toffee, teak-oak and mahogany. To be honest, I'm not sure if Whisky over 18 years is for me at this stage of my journey, sometimes too rich. Like said I'm going to let this settle now until Christmas and bring this chap out again then. Cheers.