Highland Park not as good as I expected?

[nikesupremedunk]

I've been buying different bottles of whiskys lately to try them out and a recent favorite is The Glenlivet. Always heard good things about Highland Park (the 12 year) as well so I bought a bottle last week. This is my second time drinking it and I'm still not liking it as much as I thought I would. According to the box it's supposed to be sweet fruits but all I taste is gasoline. Am I doing something wrong? Drinking it neat with a couple drops of water btw.

[Duane]

do you let it sit for around 10mins before you drink it i find it helps it settle more with the few drops of water.

one of the reasons why i haven't bought a bottle of HP, do not hear too many good things about it.

[Ken Gargett]

no issue with how you are drinking it. personally, i usually toss in a few ice lumps with whatever top spirit i'm drinking as the melt releases a little water.

i'm really interested in that comment re the highland park. not one of my regular drinks but i did pick some up a while back - think it might have been the 12 year old - and i think i had the same reaction. i'll dig it out for when rob comes around today. certainly gets good reviews. but i recollect being underwhelmed.

[edlye]

Maybe your drinking preference is slightly different from the mainstream? Better still, maybe you are getting more experienced in tasting the nuances in different single malts and developing a more sophisticated palate and nose. Regardless, you shouldn't really need to think too much about the hype that surrounds a brand/bottle or what reviewers and critics say but simply enjoy the single malts that taste good to you.

However, as a general note, the gasoline nose on a whisky should somewhat dissipate if the whisky in the glass is left to stand for 15-20mins after pouring.

[Ken Gargett]

took me ages to find it. not the 12. it is a 1998 vintage malt, bottled 2010. and clearly one for the duty free market. apparently now called 'global travel retail'. got me thinking - if someone asked me the characters of a malt from orkney, i'd have no real idea. a bit blurry. anyone have any clearer understanding?

and it also got me thinking that i couldn't honestly say that there is any orkney malt that i can think of that excites me. jura is okay. not that familiar with talisker.

[edlye]

Ken, that is the major criticism leveled at HP, some critics say that they made the whisky with such balance that all character is lost. I choose not to dwell on such comments and just drink what I like. I had the 1990 global travel retail bottle (distilled in 1990 and bottled in 2010, making it a 20 year old) and it was a poorer dram than the 18 year old IMHO. Of the core range in the HP line-up, the consistent performer for me has been the 18 year old.

[LGC]

Personal tastes. Everyone is different when it comes to cigars, beer, malts, rums, wine, etc. If you don't like it, then you don't like it. It's always best to do tastings before buying bottles.. if possible.

[Ken Gargett]

really interesting thread. will get back re the 1998.

[ZinZan]

The 12 was my favourite single malt for quite a while but as my taste bud progressed i did find it to be lacking. I wouldn't say its bad, its just that i think i moved on to other more complex stuff ie Laphroaig and Talisker. The 18 on the other hand is beautiful to me, rich, textured and smoky.

[Ken Gargett]

must say laphroaig is a fave. much easier for me to define islay characters than something like orkney.

[Guest Robo]

Ken,

I have recently purchased the same bottle of HP, 12yo 1998 global travel retail, at the duty free shop in Fort Erie, Canada. I was kinda pissed off that all they had was the 1998, I was really looking for the HP 18yo. It seems like all the DF shops are only selling these whiskeys designed for the duty free market. Give me the real thing, I say!!!

Anyways... at first sip of the 1998 I was underwhelmed but it has grown on me since. Will I buy it again? Most likely not.

nikesupremedunk,

The 1998 is my first bottle of HP, so I can't compare it to other HP offerings, however I heard that the HP 18yo is outstanding. I've noticed that with most whiskey manufacturers one wiskey is their benchmark and, from what I'm told, for HP it's the 18yo. I know that it's kinda pricy, but maybe it's worth the gamble.

[Guest Robo]

Ken, that is the major criticism leveled at HP, some critics say that they made the whisky with such balance that all character is lost. I choose not to dwell on such comments and just drink what I like. I had the 1990 global travel retail bottle (distilled in 1990 and bottled in 2010, making it a 20 year old) and it was a poorer dram than the 18 year old IMHO. Of the core range in the HP line-up, the consistent performer for me has been the 18 year old.

I think you've got it wrong, mate. It's distilled in 1998 and bottled in 2010, making it a 12yo.

[Guest Robo]

not that familiar with talisker.

Ken,

Talisker is one of my faves. If you needed any more inspiration to try it then maybe it's this: Talisker was the favourite whisky of writer Robert Louis Stevenson. In his poem "The Scotsman's Return From Abroad", Stevenson mentioned "The king o' drinks, as I conceive it, Talisker, Islay, or Glenlivet."

[Ken Gargett]

love islay so if good enough for RLS, then worth a shot. mine is a 1998 bottled 2010. the website says there is also a 1990 released in 2010. doesn't say when bottled but i suspect that if released 2010, then almost certainly bottled 2009 or 2010 so edlye presumably correct. sounds like someone in the marketing dept in 2010 said time to get rid of all these old casks so they got bottled and sold.

they did the same with a 1973 and a 1994, both released in 2010 also (and possibly a 1978 though they don't say when it was bottled or released).

[edlye]

No mistake on my part, matey. If you re-read my post, I mentioned the 1990 global travel retail bottling that was distilled in 1990 and bottled in 2010 making it a 20 year old. I also mentioned that it pales in comparison to the 18 year old in the HP core line.

I first mentioned the HP 1990 global travel retail bottling in my post in the What are you dinrking right now? thread

I think you've got it wrong, mate. It's distilled in 1998 and bottled in 2010, making it a 12yo.

[edlye]

Ken, I used to be a Laphroaig fanatic and the Quarter Cask is still a firm favourite but the Ardbeg 10 Year Old and the Uigeadail have replaced my love for the Laphroaig 10 year old and 18 year old respectively. The Caol Ila 12 year old and Talisker 10 year old are old favourites too alongside the Bunnahabhain 18 year old. There are lots of great distilleries on Islay and Kilchoman is soon to be a new fixture in my bottle rotation once the stocks of their Machir Bay general release stabilizes.

The key defining characteristic of HP or Orkney peat, at least on my taste buds, is the heathery smokiness.

must say laphroaig is a fave. much easier for me to define islay characters than something like orkney.

[Guest Robo]

No mistake on my part, matey. If you re-read my post, I mentioned the 1990 global retail bottling that was distilled in 1990 and bottled in 2010 making it a 20 year old. I also mentioned that it pales in comparison to the 18 year old in the HP core line.

I first mentioned the HP 1990 global retail bottling in my post in the What are you dinrking right now? thread

I stand corrected. Time for another whiskey!

[nikesupremedunk]

wow interesting posts in here..

i'll try letting it sit for 10-15 minutes next time. As for most bottles that are aged 15-18 years, are they really noticeably different than the 12's? Certainly in price they are, but what makes it twice as good to justify the price?

Maybe I just have to let my HP12 "age" a couple years...tasted kind of young!

[edlye]

love islay so if good enough for RLS, then worth a shot. mine is a 1998 bottled 2010. the website says there is also a 1990 released in 2010. doesn't say when bottled but i suspect that if released 2010, then almost certainly bottled 2009 or 2010 so edlye presumably correct. sounds like someone in the marketing dept in 2010 said time to get rid of all these old casks so they got bottled and sold.

they did the same with a 1973 and a 1994, both released in 2010 also (and possibly a 1978 though they don't say when it was bottled or released).

The 1990 global travel retail bottling exists, I assure you. I bought a bottle in Feb 2011 at Singapore's Changi airport duty-free. What irks me is that they bottled it at a measly 40% vol versus the 18 year old at 43%.

[Ken Gargett]

The 1990 global travel retail bottling exists, I assure you. I bought a bottle in Feb 2011 at Singapore's Changi airport duty-free. What irks me is that they bottled it at a measly 40% vol versus the 18 year old at 43%.

mine came in a similar 'carton'. all of these are mentioned on their website and all but the 1978 are either bottled or released in 2010. caol ila 12 i like and the ardbeg - both those mentioned - very much. i tend to prefer the islay malts. toss in the bowmores - or some of them. mcallan is another fave.

as for ageing your highpark 12, once you have it in bottle, forget it. change, even over many years, will be very minor.

[edlye]

The distilleries would certainly like you to think that the older whiskies taste better, only because they can charge you more. Sadly, more age does not necessarily mean a better tasting whisky at least in my own experience. Same thing applies to the colour of a whisky, a darker colour doesn't necessarily mean bolder flavours. You would certainly do much better in your whisky journey to locate a nice whisky bar with a broad selection of whiskies and conduct your own vertical tasting of a distillery's core expression to decide which bottling tastes best to you.

As Ken mentioned, once bottled the whisky stops aging. In my own experience, some whiskies require a bit of oxidization to really open up. Fortunately, you can leave it in the bottle for that to happen as I note that most whiskies open up once the whisky level drops below the neck of the bottle.

wow interesting posts in here..

i'll try letting it sit for 10-15 minutes next time. As for most bottles that are aged 15-18 years, are they really noticeably different than the 12's? Certainly in price they are, but what makes it twice as good to justify the price?

Maybe I just have to let my HP12 "age" a couple years...tasted kind of young!

[Guest Robo]

wow interesting posts in here..

i'll try letting it sit for 10-15 minutes next time. As for most bottles that are aged 15-18 years, are they really noticeably different than the 12's? Certainly in price they are, but what makes it twice as good to justify the price?

Maybe I just have to let my HP12 "age" a couple years...tasted kind of young!

There are a few really good 10yo's out there, as mentioned, Ardbeg 10, Talisker 10, Laphroaig 10. All these being pretty smoky with Talisker being the least so.

IMHO, all the above blow the HP 1998 clear out of the water.

[edlye]

I wonder who else has tried the 1994 global travel retail bottle and made a comparison to the 12 and 18 year old from the HP core expressions. The 1990 and 1998 expressions have been panned variously in this thread. Could it be that we've been hoodwinked into thinking that we have better whiskies with the exclusive bottlings for the global travel retail?

[Ken Gargett]

think that there is something in that but for me, more likely that single vintage malts, while of interest, are limited (i'm assuming that these barrels were from the same year and not a multi-vintage blend before going into wood but i may be wrong) in quality. a generalisation of course but the many different vintages provide the blender with so many more options.

[Guest Robo]

Could it be that we've been hoodwinked into thinking that we have better whiskies with the exclusive bottlings for the global travel retail?

Absolutely, and it irks me to no end. Every time I revisit the duty free shops they take off another core expression and replace it with a global travel retail. First, it was MacAllen with their "1824 Travel Retail Collection", then Glenmorangie, and now Highland Park. Where will it end??? What we need is a higher standard of scotch whiskey education for all.

Speaking of which, do you guys recommend any of the Glengoyne offerings?