Highland Park 18

The Cabinet met last Thursday evening to consider the Highland Park 18 year old, named "the best spirit in the world" by the American whisky writer, F. Paul Pacult. The 18 year old is well reviewed elsewhere too and we'd long been wanting to include some Orkney whiskies in our stocks, especially as there is a strong historical connection between the Orkneys and the Red River Valley. Our plan was to "drink deeply" from the one bottle, rather than going through our usual series of comparisons among three or four different whiskies. The thought was that perhaps our perceptions would change from the first dram to the second and from the second to the third. Perhaps we'd learn new things about the whisky and appreciate it more by the last glass. Or perhaps less.

To begin with I should say that the Highland Park 18 is a favorite of mine from a few years ago when Al and I attended the "Whisky Live" conference in Toronto. So, although "the best spirit in the world" did seem a touch hyperbolic, I was confident that it would at least be an enjoyable scotch for the group, especially since we were going to have several glasses of it. And it was in fact enjoyable, but that's about it. A fine, well-crafted scotch whisky that is very pleasant to sip on, but, to my surprise and disappointment, not much more than that. To be fair, Highland Park does not advertise this whisky as being complex, in fact the claim is "perfectly balanced", "rich" and "round". They do also, however, talk about a "prolonged, full, smokey aftertaste" and I do not believe that any of us experienced that. Perhaps that was the missing element that made Thursday night's experience seem different and, frankly, inferior to my recollection of this whisky. This again raises the question of consistency that we raised with the Johnny Walker Black Label at the last meeting. Or perhaps our faculties of memory and taste are just beginning to fail us. Incidentally, for the record, our impressions were essentially the same after the third glass, although we were in a jollier and more charitable frame of mind by that point.

Again I want to emphasize however that that the Highland Park 18 is a very fine scotch whisky, but it just is not, perhaps, "the best spirit in the world". Incidentally, Highland Park may, however, have the best whisky website in the world (www.highlandpark.co.uk) with a wealth of excellent videos detailing all the stages of the production process as well as tastings of each of their expressions. Distiller Jerry Tosh does a good job with these and entertained the group with his description of the "hallelujah moment" after sipping a Highland Park 18 when your mouth dries out and begins to water. This is true, your mouth does this, but we suspect it is true for many other whiskies as well.

All in all a fine meeting. Enhanced as well by Michael's excellent Canada Goose Rumaki!