Dear friends, supporters and followers alike! When working the Whiskyexpo in Linköping a couple of weeks ago I passed by the stand of Symposion, since I had been given the great opportunity to pick up a sample of a coming Highland Park Single Bourbon Cask for review. Here in Sweden it is released tomorrow and you can view the product here.
We are talking about a 1989 (26-27 years old) single refill american oak hogshead (250 litres) that has been watered down to 43% ABV. The cost for a bottle is 2402kr and Symposion has managed to source 96 bottles for the swedish market. Ok, let's see what we have here!
Nose:
The centre layer on the nose consists of a very broad vanilla and butter combo with a handful of light peat. We also have classic marzipan and/or almond paste. The top layer is soo frutiy; a kind of summery feeling going on here with an elegant but attention-seeking citrus, peel from red apples, mushed red apple pulp, citrus-infused liquid honey, and hey, there’s even a touch of mint. Lots and lots of summer fruity-ness! Finally, in the bottom-layer, there is a discrete, earthy and somewhat ashy peat with hints of vanilla-infused pipe tobacco. All together a great nose!
Taste:
Opens up soo incredibly smooth on soft, creamy and sweet elderflower with evident touches of vanilla. This phase lasts for about 2-3 seconds to be interrupted by a quick slightly bitter liquorice/polypodium. This then quickly moves on into the longest phase of the taste consisting first of marzipan and/or almond paste but then moving on into medium-dry peat, oak/”mature” wood and a nice malt-y cling to it. It fades away with burnt peat, or rather ashy peat, in combination with elderflower juice (soft drink without carbonation). Absolutely beautiful taste! Especially so the very beginning and the very end of the taste, nice!
To sum up:
My concluding remarks/thoughts are: While some part of me definitely would like to try this at higher strength I really must argue that this dram actually is very good and enjoyable on 43% ABV. Also, it’s very nice to enjoy HP that is bourbon matured, so fruity and different from classic sherrymatured HP. The only thing that I can think of that goes against purchasing a bottle is the price, on the other hand we are talking about a single cask here, and 26-27 years old so maybe it’s a go right?! ☺
Big thanks to the nice people at Symposion for the opportunity to try this release, and to be able to review it before the launch! Please make sure to follow my FB-page by clicking here, my instagram by clicking here and my twitter-page by clicking here. Copyright © and All Rights Reserved on all tasting notes and text by SamuelWhisky and pictures likewise belong to SamuelWhisky, unless stated. If you would like to use any such material that belongs to SamuelWhisky or associated with SamuelWhisky, please ask by sending me an email to samuelkarlssonorebro [at] gmail dot com and by stating the source
 |
| Pic belongs to Symposion |
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar
Obs! Endast bloggmedlemmar kan kommentera.