Review: Highland Park 1995 G&M Reserve – real value

Peter Krause — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 10:21:31 +0000

People often ask me about the ‚bang-for-your-buck bottlings‘, those off the beaten track, single cask stuff at a fair price, absolute value. One I can recommend without blinking an eye is this Gordon & MacPhail Highland Park and some of its sister bottlings from the ‚Reserve‘ series (also those from 1997), all of them being great allrounders of high quality. I have tried this dram with many groups of people and it could always convince. Although these bottles might be hard to find now it is worth seeking them out – in stores, that is, because in auctions they already fetch over 100 Euro. Let’s hope for more HP-Sauce to be released from the identical source at such prices.

Highland Park 10 y.o. G&M Reserve, 15. June 1995 – 1. May 2006, Refill Sherry Hogshead 1329, 307 btl., 57,9%

Comment: Great maritime freshness and discrete sherry, also herbal (thyme, minty menthol) and softly smoky. There also are aromas of cole slaw, heather and turkish delight in the well-balanced mix. Some tasters found traces of ‚Gletscher Eis‘ drops, an old German sweet with the so called freshness of a glacier. Mmmh. Isn’t it lovely how whisky aromas conjure up childhood memories. On the palate there is a lot of natural caramel in company with the already mentioned notes. A long finish, really an allrounder with so much going on, Scotland in a glass. I just bought another bottle for 59.- Euro a month ago.

Score: 91–

Review: Glenturret 34 y.o. Maltbarn 1977

Peter Krause — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 19:48:12 +0000

Glenturret can be inconsistent in quality, but there are great ones out there as well, for example this one. Let’s give another dram from Scotland’s oldest distillery a chance. It is Martin Diekmann’s third release in the Maltbarn series. Can it compete with his amazing Balmenach?

Glenturret 34 y.o. Maltbarn 1977 – 2012, Bourbon Barrel, 249 btl., 48,4%

Comment: Big fruit and spicy oak at first, quite powerful, but this settles quickly. Also lots of vanilla cream, toffee, marzipan and roasted macadamia nuts. The fruit elements are passion fruit, apricot, white peach, strawberry, apple and pear. It also has something like Pina Colada in it, plus some green tea and honeysuckle. 34 years, ok, but the wood is a tad too dominant for me because it doesn’t allow the other aromas take center stage (water doesn’t change that). The first taste impression is Tequila-ish, then fruit, green walnut and big oak n‘ friends take over, all the way into the long finish, where vanilla, passion fruit and coconut reverberate.

Score: 86

value – Slowdrink.de

Review: Highland Park 1995 G&M Reserve – real value

Review: Glenturret 34 y.o. Maltbarn 1977