This was a week of reviews of sherry cask whiskies from island distilleries. It started on Monday on the Isle of Mull, with an idiosyncratic official Tobermory 17 that I enjoyed despite the clear presence of sulphur. I enjoyed Wednesday’s Bunnahabhain 12 from A.D Rattray even more, despite the stupidly high abv. Here now to close out the week is another 12 yo, another official release, and another whisky at a very high abv. This is a Highland Park selected by Binny’s in Chicago and bottled in 2019. It was matured in a first-fill European oak hogshead. Was this an European oak butt that was broken down and rebuilt as a hogshead or two? Or was it a purpose-built hogshead that was then treated with sherry to turn it into a “first-fill” cask? I expect the second is probably closer to reality but don’t really know. If you know more about Highland Park’s cask program for these high octane sherry cask releases that they’ve been pumping out over the last half-decade or so, please do write in to the comments.

Highland Park 12, 2006 (63.5%; for Binny’s; first-fill European oak hogshead; from a bottle split)

Nose: Dusty oak, cereals and orange peel (with some juice mixed in) on the first sniff. The oak has more grip on the second sniff and there’s some sweeter fruit in there with the citrus; some damp leaves too now. The oak eases a bit as it sits; otherwise more or less in this vein. With a lot more time and air there’s a little bit of toffee. A few drops of water push the oak back and soften it further: more toffee now and some light caramel.

Palate: Comes in with the citrus rather than the oak leading the way; toasted cereals behind. Big alcoholic bite. More orange peel on the second sip, along with a bit of apricot. With time there’s more oak and it’s got some polish on it. Sweeter as it goes and the oak gets just a little bit raw. Let’s see what water does for it. Water pushes the oak back here as well and makes it sweeter still (brown sugar) even as the citrus expands; some powdered ginger shows up as well.

Finish: Long. The citrus picks up some salt and then the oak emerges at the end (not tannic). As on the palate with time. With water it gets more acidic here at the end.

Comments: Expectedly, this needed a lot of air and then water to fully open up. A pleasurable enough malt at that point but nothing very remarkable. Indeed, it tastes younger than its age. Letting it go 12 years in a butt with less oak contact might have produced better results.

Rating: 85 points.