Comments on: The Highland Park core expressions – Part 1

By: Scotch Hobbyist

Scotch Hobbyist — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:13:34 +0000

Those are ALL excellent whiskies, J! Deciding between them would probably depend on what other whiskies you’ve tried already. None of these are “super dry.” The Glendronach is going to be the most different from the others, with pretty much no peat smoke. Ballantine’s 17 might actually fit your description the best, but I’d still start with one of the single malts…probably Glendronach or HP 12. If you can find HP 12 in a bar, try it that way first. If it’s to peaty for you, then go for Glendronach 12 or Ballantine’s 17.

By: J white

J white — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:20:05 +0000

what can some recommand
HP12,
walker green
ballintines 17
dalmore 12
glendonarch 12 im looking out for at varies stores.

do like some refinement. do not like too dry/serbert. do like cereal notes too.

By: Highland Park 12 Single Cask (bottled for Maxxium Netherlands) | Whisky Israel

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 08:41:08 +0000

[...] £899). For an excellent review of the HP core range refer to the scotch hobbyist excellent posts here and [...]

By: Scotch Hobbyist

Scotch Hobbyist — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 05:58:38 +0000

I don’t know if “less” sherried even describes it properly. The focus on American oak for the 15 year really makes it a different animal from the others. There’s none of the traditional sherry flavor that you typically get from the likes of Macallan or the Spanish oak HPs.

If you actually find the sherry to be a bit much on the 12 and 18 after a while, I’m guessing you need to drink the likes of Macallan 12/18 in small quantities?

Thanks,
Jeff

By: Jason Debly

Jason Debly — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:46:54 +0000

Hi Jeff!

You mention in your review of the HP 15 that the lime gets to be a bit much after awhile. That was my impression of the HP 12 ans 18 with respect to the sherry flavor. I found the HP 18 upon opening to be at its zenith and then coming back to it days and weeks later, the sherry becomes to the forefront of the flavor profile.

I have a question. Would you agree the HP 15 is less sherried than the 12 and 18?

By: The Highland Park core expressions – Part 2 « Scotch Hobbyist’s Blog

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:37:44 +0000

[...] is part 2 of my look at the Highland Park core expressions. In Part 1, I shared some details about how HP creates their whisky, and compared the 12, 15 and 18 year [...]

By: Scotch Hobbyist

Scotch Hobbyist — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:41:22 +0000

Ha! That’s funny.

I certainly understand not wanting your real name associated with my blog.

Thanks for stopping by, anyway. Great dialog, and the industry insider insight on Kevin’s “sherry oak” post is exactly the kind of thing I like to find as I continue my whisk(e)y discovery process.

Cheers,
Jeff

By: Allen

Allen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:31:05 +0000

Thanks for the quick reply. FYI – the person asking the question there was me (just changed the spelling here for a bit more anonymity).

By: Scotch Hobbyist

Scotch Hobbyist — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:45:52 +0000

Allen,
That’s an EXCELLENT point about the wine finishings. Surely there is “some” influence from the previous liquid, but to this point, I had read/heard that this was fairly minimal. I just found this great post, also from The Scotch Blog, where Kevin covers this exact issue. Check it out: http://inebrio.com/thescotchblog/?p=12

I have a feeling that Kevin was mistaken when describing the cask types used in the HP expressions, as per my comment previously about people tending to use American oak/bourbon cask synonymously. Otherwise I would have expected to see more comments out there about a change in HP flavor over the past year or two.

Thanks,
Jeff

By: Allen

Allen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:04:26 +0000

Interesting. Thanks. The reason I asked was because Kevin over at The Scotch Blog seemed to say that this wasn’t the case (http://inebrio.com/thescotchblog/?p=69), although this post is over 3 years old.

And I think there seems to be a bit of disagreement on the amount of influence the previous liquid has on the whisky vs. influence of wood. Clearly the the previous liquid has some effect, or why else (aside from marketing) would Glenmorangie (previously) have a line consisting of Madeira, Sherry, Port, and Burgundy – all 12 years, and all presumably European Oak? I spoke with the North American Ambassador for Signatory who told me that the European vs. American oak distinction is negligible. I don’t think this is really the case, but I do often think that it is overstated.