Highland Park 30 years old, 2023 Release/ 45.1% / 0.7l

Highland Park, based in the Orkney capital of Kirkwall, is Scotland's most northerly distillery.

It has been producing whisky since 1798 and is now owned by Edrington. Over the past decade, Highland Park has doubled its sales, which now exceed 2 million bottles. Highland Park 30 Year Old debuted in 2005 and is the second oldest version of the whisky. The bottle presented here is from a batch bottled in 2023, made from just six casks – three first-fill sherry hogshead casks (European oak), one first-fill sherry hogshead cask (American oak), one American virgin oak and one refill hogshead cask. Bottled at 45.1% abv with natural colour, the whisky was produced in an edition of 1,626 bottles.

Nose: old leather couch, honeycomb, coconut, dark chocolate, caramel, eucalyptus, roasted almonds, blood oranges, black pepper, dried herbs and a light smoke in the background.

Palate: crème brûlée, toffee, honey, chocolate-covered plums, bitter orange jam, raisins, mocha, nutmeg, cinnamon, pinch of pepper, notes of sherry and oak.

Finish: long and complex, with notes of dark chocolate, honey, orange peel, ginger, nutmeg, cedar and peat smoke.