Once upon a time Highland Park was one of my five favourite distilleries. These days I don’t really spend much time thinking about that kind of thing but if I did, I doubt Highland Park would make the cut. I’m sure I’ve gone into the major reason before: the endless premium-ization of the brand (which was itself preceded by the transformation of what used to be a distillery refreshingly free of hoo-ha into a brand). Anyway, it’s not just that their prices shot up, it’s also that the quality did not keep up with the prices. Of course, that’s been a much broader problem in Scotland over the last decade; Highland Park is hardly the only one guilty of it. But I can’t remember the last time I was tempted to buy an official Highland Park, even though there have been many of them around, given the emphasis they’ve placed on single cask releases for stores, private groups, wealthy individuals etc.. In fact, the last Highland Park I reviewed was another 12 yo single cask bottled for Binny’s. That one was a first-fill European Oak hogshead (not the most common type of cask). This one was bottled a few years ago, not for a store but for an internet group: the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers. I’m actually a member of the group but I passed on a full bottle of this (on account of the price thing). It’s also from a relatively unusual cask: the much smaller firkin. I’m not sure but I think it might have been finished in a firkin: I can’t imagine that 12 years in a cask that small would yield a very palatable whisky (but I could be wrong). Anyway, let’s get into it.

Highland Park 12 (57.6%; for LLUA; firkin 500136; from a bottle split)

Nose: Oak and sherry come in together, the one a little raw, the other bright and driven by orange peel. With time the oak calms down and the orange peel is trumped by apricot, brown butter and toffee. A splash of water actually wakes the oak up again; it also pulls out some red fruit (cherry).

Palate: Less oaky here than I’d feared; the orange is joined by apricot and it’s also sweeter than the nose had indicated. Quite hot at full strength but not unapproachable; good texture. The oak is a little more talkative on the second sip but so is the apricot—and now there’s other muskier fruit poking through as well (peach). The musky fruit expands as it sits: some mango in there too now; some salt as well. Saltier with water and the apricot and mango expand.

Finish: Long. The oak gets a little spicy (pepper, cinnamon) and the spice dominates as the fruit fades. With time the fruit takes over from the oak. As on the palate with time and water.

Comments: I was expecting a bit of an oak bomb and the first sniff seemed to bear that fear out. Happily, it didn’t turn out that way. Lovely fruit on the palate and finish and good balance with the oak. As good a young Highland Park as I’ve had in a long while.

Rating: 89 points.