Highland Park 12, 15 & 18 Reviews

Hi everyone,

Dave hasn’t reviewed any Highland Park yet?! You don’t say?

Well, were gonna correct that. Majorly. I’m going to review them all. From the 12 year old, right up to the 40 year old with one or two in between.

I’ve had 2 bottles of the 12, one of the 18 and the rest are from samples I bought, either from Master of Malt or a miniature pack they do.

First up we’ll do the 12-18.

Highland Park 12 40%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Heather, honey, creamy toffee, vanilla, subtle heathery peat, raisins and cream, big malty note, nuts and toffee apples, chocolate orange, orange marmalade, butterscotch.

Taste: Honey, malt, heather, heathery peat, wood fire, toffee, barley, bit of coffee, orange marmalade.

Finish: Medium length. Drying with tannins and coffee.

Great value for money @ £25.

71/100

Highland Park 15 40%

Colour: Gold

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Really fruity, juicy, green grape, kiwi, under ripe mango, fruit salad, some dry oak. A tiny bit of smoke if you get behind the fruit.

Taste: Light and fresh. Clean, juicy fruit, green grape, kiwi and the under ripe mango, then more drying with the oak coming in. Waxy and slightly oily.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Dry with the oak, a tiny bit of chocolate.

Seems like a refill Bourbon one. Nice and natural.

70/100

Highland Park 18 43%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Complex. Nut- Walnut, damp wood, dunnage warehouse, wood polish, dark chocolate, strong coffee, leather, toffee, fudge and caramel. Coastal- Sea air and spray, small wisps of smoke- Campfire on the beach. Sweetness starts to appear- Lots of barley sugar, marzipan, almond, thick cream, vanilla, sweet syrupy honey, brown sugar, stewed fruit- Apple, apple pie, cherry, cocktail cherry, juicy orange and roasted chestnut.

After time- Ah, here comes the smoke. A heathery, woody, outdoorsy smoke.

Water: More sherried and sweet, more cocktail cherry, raisins soaked in apple brandy, driftwood.

Taste: Creamy arrival, then gradually coming back with spices and fruit. Sherried stewed fruit- Cherry, raisin, date, thick honey, malt, leather, toffee, building spice- Nutmeg and some heather smoke. Developing drying coffee, more malt, ash, tannins, sea salt, bitter orange and lime peel, dark chocolate. The oak is part of the drying development and carries it through really well.

Water: Less creamy arrival with more oak and tannins, toffee coffee, maybe more sweet oak, more heather. After time the chocolate and malt really take over.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Drying, lots of coffee with hints of smoke and a final sea salt hit!

A great whisky, takes time to open up and you are really rewarded if you keep this in your mouth for a full 18 seconds.

81/100

Thanks for reading! Next up is some much older HP for my 300th Scotch review!!

Reviews #323-#325

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, I have never accepted free samples from anyone in the whisky industry, but have bought bottles or samples with my money, bringing a different set of biases. Also, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Network Average: 74.4

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Knockando 18 (1994) Review

Hi everyone,

Today I've got an obscure one, unless you live in France. Knockando is a giant Diageo Speyside distillery. It's also the reason why the whisky from Knockdu distillery is called anCnoc.

Knockando is sold as a cheaper single malt in France. When I saw an 18 year old single malt for under €40 I thought, well why not.

Apparently this has been 'Slow Matured' in sherry casks. From the darkest, dampest corners of the warehouse.

Knockando 18 43%

Colour: E150a

Body: Medium

Nose: Damp and musty. Damp earth, musty warehouse, damp dust, dust motes, light fruitiness in the background. More fruity with time with sherry influence coming through. Dusty fruit- Apple, some raisin, peaches and cream, creamy vanilla, rose, Turkish Delight, some charcoal, coffee. Wine-y fruitiness, almost port-like- Blackberries, plums, blackcurrents.

After some time- More fragrant and floral with lots of rose petals, oak and general youthful zestiness- Lemon and lime.

Taste: Creamy arrival with light dusty fruit- Apple, lots of bitter lime peel, lemon, wine-y note- Red grape and bitter oaky tannins. Rich spices develop and build going very dry- Dry cinnamon powder and ginger mingling with bitter lime citrus.

Finish: Long length. Big bitter black coffee hit then spices linger nicely.

Hits in some ways, falls short in others.

70/100

Thanks for reading!

Review #322

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, I have never accepted free samples from anyone in the whisky industry, but have bought bottles or samples with my money, bringing a different set of biases. Also, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Network Average: 74.4

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just about OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Glen Garioch Founder's Reserve Review

Hi everyone,

I've got a possibly young NAS Highlander today. It's another distillery I've only tried one expression from, back when I was trying to tick them off.

I wanted to try this as it's a Highland malt at 48% (good on 'em), unfortunately when I looked on the back of a box (I didn't buy a bottle, notes are from a sample) it clearly says that the whisky is coloured.

Not sure who they aim this at, making it look craft and higher strength, then kicking us in the nugs.

Glen Garioch Founders Reserve 48%

Colour: E150a

Body: Medium

Nose: Big and rich. Toffee, fudge, fruity with citrus and banana, banoffee pie, aromatic spice- Curry powder, nutmeg, some cinnamon.

Water: Seaside and watermelon but a little Feinty with some harsh spirit and cleaning fluid.

Taste: Gentle arrival. Lots of banana then more complex spice and floral notes, wild flowers, citrus, lemon, oak building with tannins, chocolate and cocoa powder. Quite oaky into the finish. A complex spirit.

Water: More fudge and toffee, banoffee pie. But still harsh oak and spirit building and into the finish.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Powerful oak and harsh tannins.

Ditch the colour! A complex seeming spirit, just a bit young. I imagine older versions could be good and I've heard good things about the vintage Sherry cask stuff.

67/100

Thanks for reading!

Review #321

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, I have never accepted free samples from anyone in the whisky industry, but have bought bottles or samples with my money, bringing a different set of biases. Also, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Network Average: 74.4

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just about OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

BenRiach 10 Curiositas Review

Hi everyone,

Another review from me, this time it's a BenRiach. It's a Speyside malt but some of it they peat, some not. Not that unusual these days, as everyone seems to be jumping on the peat train but BenRiach were doing it before it was cool.

 

BenRiach 10 Curiositas 46%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Peaty and sweet, throat lozenges, antiseptic, citrus fruit- Lemon, green apple and lime, candy, barley sugar, malt, smoked meat? Floral notes coming out after a bit- Lavender and heather.

Water: More creamy, vanilla, fudge, butterscotch. Then a lovely floral note- Cherry blossom. Peat very much taking a backseat.

Taste: Light arrival, sweet peat developing with oak spice and barley sugar, toast, peat fire, lime juice, lemon sherbet, lemonade, very fizzy into the finish.

Water: More creamy arrival with vanilla and vanilla fudge then a juicy development with more fruit- Lemon, lime and some orange. Peat now in the background.

Finish: Medium length. Peat hit then fading barley malt.

Very nice, but I've yet to try any unpeated BenRiach to compare.

74/100

Thanks for reading!

Review #320

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, I have never accepted free samples from anyone in the whisky industry, but have bought bottles or samples with my money, bringing a different set of biases. Also, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score.

Network Average: 74.4

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just about OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Glen Scotia 12 Review

Hi everyone,

If you're wondering where the disclaimer has gone, I've put it down the bottom to cause less disruption. Onwards.

Glen Scotia is known as the other distillery in Campbeltown, always a bit overshadowed by the epic Springbank. This is the only one I've tried but it seems like a bit of a difficult malt.

Glen Scotia 12 46%

Colour: Very Pale Gold

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Very fresh. Lovely mix of pastry yeast, fruit and vanilla. Croissants, butter, toffee, dusty apple, pear, a little rubbery leather, coffee beans, a little chocolate.

Water: Bitter grapefruit, green grapes and more of the leather and coffee beans. Some porridge and chalk coming out.

Taste: Gentle arrival, lovely zippy fresh fruit and citrus- Green apple and lemon, some pear, yeast, pastry then much more coffee and rubbery leather building and going into the finish.

Water: Less sharp citrus, more gentle pastry, porridge and yeast. Bitter development with new tyre rubber and rubbery leather.

Finish: Medium/Long length. A little bitter with coffee and chewy leather.

Shaded black bottle with a cow on the label. A lot of Refill hogsheads and feints with this one, however there's lots of older notes for a 12yo.

69/100

Thanks for reading!

Review #319

Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, I have never accepted free samples from anyone in the whisky industry, but have bought bottles or samples with my money, bringing a different set of biases. Also, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things (unless they are actually present). Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am completely unable to produce unbiased reviews. -2nd Ed.

Network Average: 74.4

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just about OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Caol Ila 1996 Hunter Laing x2 Reviews

Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, I have never accepted free samples from anyone in the whisky industry, but have bought bottles or samples with my money, bringing a different set of biases. Also, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. -1st Edition of this so feel free to suggest things to add/change.

Phew, now that’s out the way.

Today I’ve got two Hunter Laing Caol Ila’s from 1996. Caol Ila is the biggest of the Islay distilleries and you can find my visit to the distillery here. Hunter Laing is an independent bottler, separate now from Douglas Laing who have their own thing. Their Old malt Cask range is pretty famous for bottling some epic 1970’s Ardbeg back in the day but is still bringing out some gems. Like these.

Standing in The Whisky Shop in Guildford, England, I always want to buy stuff and support it but it’s just a bit overpriced. So I was looking for something unique. An amber coloured Caol Ila caught my eye, butit was expensive. A £125 I wasn’t willing to gamble. Asking to try it, the (very nice) lady told me she didn’t have a sample of that one but a previous bottling from a Bourbon hogshead.

Caol Ila 1996 Old Malt Cask 50%

Colour: Pale Gold

Body: Full

Nose: A very peaty Caol Ila. Peat smoke, bonfire smoke, a medicinal edge with cough sweets, creamy vanilla, sea salt.

Taste: Earthy and a little oily, very creamy and chewy with vanilla and salted toffee. Peat smoke, bonfire smoke, medicinal cough sweets again. Great mouthfeel and balance.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Creamy and peaty.

Distilled Sept 1996, bottled March 2014. 17 year old from a Bourbon Hogshead 10387. Very impressed with this, enough to buy the Sherry hogshead version.

82/100

Caol Ila 1996 Old Malt Cask (refill Sherry Hogshead) 50%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: A little closed at first. Tasting notes are bang on. Vanilla custard! A lot of it, behind there is fruitiness, fresh and dried, peach, apricot, raisin, prune, date, biscuity malt. Oily smoke coming through, Ardbeggian.

Water: More expressive. More of the fresh fruity side, peach, dried peach, Ambrosia custard. More obviously Islay after a bit with more smoke, soot, earth, rubber and malt. Smoked kippers!

Taste: Soft arrival, vanilla custard again, biscuity malt, oily peat coming in, lifting citrus, orange, lovely!, lemon juice, sooty, oily, engine oil, going more dirty, god it's great, damp peat, peaty malt, a little oak throughout. Really sings into the finish!

Water: Softer, lime zest, candied lime, candied orange peel, a little spiciness building from the oak, light white pepper, creamy custard, growing more oily then lovely olive oil and lime juice into the finish.

Finish: Long length. Very oily, mouth coating, engine oil and peaty malt. Lovely.

September 1996-October 2015. 19 year old Sherried Ardbeg? Laphroaig? It's believable. A lovely Caol Ila from an incredible barrel.

87/100

Thanks for reading!

Reviews #317-#318

Network Average: 74.4

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just about OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

A rant about low scores and why they are important.

(This article was written for Reddit's r/Scotch community and is just an opinion)

Hi everyone,

The other day a well-known whisky blogger called me out on Facebook, telling me that my very low score for Jameson Caskmates was unjustified, suggesting that I had scored it so low for ‘blog hits’ (whatever those are) and that if I don’t like a whisky, then I shouldn’t say anything.

Another famous whisky blogger liked the comment, suggesting he agreed.

When I said that I was just sharing my opinion, the commenter went as far as to suggest that it looked like I scored it low because of where I work (at another Distillery).

I decided not to reply back straight away, but actually think about what had been said and what I would say back.

I could have started a childish Facebook argument, perhaps pack my bags, never to blog again or just ignore it.

What I will do instead is to give some more low scores and explain why I think they are important.

Skip down for the rant

Photo courtesy of Master of Malt

Balmenach 2002 Provenance 46%

Colour: Pale pale straw

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Young and pungent. Quite in your face, musky, moss, olive oil, green and a little earthy, verging on stale but there's some young esters keeping it at bay. Pear drops, green apple, some vanilla, some American oak.

Taste: Gentle arrival, smooth and fruity with apple and pear then spice kicks up with strong oak coming through, tannins, chocolate, green sappy oak, coffee.

Finish: Medium length. Unfortunate, green, sappy, tannins, cheap coffee, a little hot alcohol.

Bottled 2012 at 10 years old. Cask 9864.

51/100

Photo courtesy of Master of Malt

Strathisla 2005 Malt of the Earth 46%

Colour: Pale pale straw

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Ultra clean, distillate style. Bubblegum, some young fruit- Green apple, lots of pear, pear drops. Sour building now, sour spirit, lemon, vodka, slightly stale with sweaty socks.

Taste: Sharp and sweet. Zingy with loads of lemon, lemon juice, lemon sherbet, a little spice developing then some chocolate. Again, slightly stale in development and finish.

Finish: Medium length. Young but with chocolate, spice and coffee.

Bottled 2014 at 9 years old.

53/100

Reviews #315-#316

THE IMPORTANT BIT

Should we score whisky?

Well, I can’t give an answer for everyone but for me it works. As Serge of Whiskyfun says, I haven’t found a better way of showing (to myself) which cask of 2005 Ledaig I liked better, 900160 or 900159. For a long time, I didn’t score whisky. I wrestled with starting to score when I started posting here. In the end, Serge’s post here convinced me that it was a good idea. I then thought about it a lot and developed my system over a few months.

Some people use a 0-10 system, some A-E. Some people don’t score whisky at all. That’s fine.

Are low scores important?

If you are scoring, then yes. If you didn’t, none of your scores would mean anything! If you score everything 90/100 or even just between 90-99 then 90 is a low score for you. Just because I give stuff 40/100, doesn’t mean that it’s 40 for you. A 40 for me might be your 60 or 70 or whatever.

If you got a shite pair of headphones from Amazon that broke the first time you wore them, would you give them 1 star? Another part of low scores is trying to help people not to make the same mistake you did.

Does it matter that I work at another distillery?

Yes. Of course, it does. And it doesn’t matter if I say I’m going to be unbiased in my views or as truthful as the virgin Mary because how can you believe me. You don’t know me. It doesn’t matter if you are Jim Murray or John Doe though, everyone is biased. Some more than others of course. In the end, use your judgement and experience.

Am I rating Ledaig and Ardbeg highly to lure you into buying stuff from the distillery I work for? Am I rating Jameson and Tamnavulin low to put you off them, and instead buy stuff from the distillery I work for?

Should I keep my mouth shut?

Hell no! I’m not going to stop my passion because anyone tells me to. I love reviewing whisky, I love the nuances and flavours. I love being critical and if I don’t think something is up to scratch, I’m going to bloody well tell you about it.

If daveswhiskyreviews gives a low score, does it mean I won’t like it?

No. NO. Everyone’s tastes are different. I am only 1 person. I can only give one person’s opinion. That’s why I contribute to r/Scotch archive and whiskybase.com, because alone I mean nothing. Together, we can build a picture of views from many people from different backgrounds and different tastes from all over the world and that means something.

Now if you excuse me, I’m going to sit back and watch my huge blog hits roll in and make me a tonne of money from all the advertising I run, then open some exclusive samples from all the companies that send me free stuff. Sláinte

I’ll leave you with this quote from Serge.

It’s just a way of summing up impressions and opinions. Scores are opinions, expressed in a numerical form. They have to be put in relation with the taster who came up with the scores (and his experience as well as his possible commercial links to the bottlers), otherwise they are worthless. MOST IMPORTANT: in my view a high score doesn't mean you should rush out and buy a bottle or a palette, it means that in my opinion, you too should maybe try the whisky in question, provided we have similar tastes. Always try to taste a whisky yourself before you buy - if you can. – Serge Valentin (Whiskyfun)

Update: What has come out of a few comments made on this article is that I will be putting a disclaimer on all my reviews, stating who I work for and being more open in general so that people can make their own opinions about my reviews and biases.