Highland Park ‘Full Volume’ vintage 1999

A lot of new Highland park releases lately , and this is yet another one. Basically this is a US (and some other select markets only) release called ‘Full Volume’, a single malt distilled in 1999 and matured exclusively in first-fill ex-Bourbon casks. During 1999, a combination of 481 casks – 200 liter barrels and 250 liter hogsheads – were filled at strengths of between 63.6% and 63.7%. The whisky was filtered at just over 4oC

both barrels and hogsheads were used, and there is NO SHERRY butts involved in this. Highland Park is mostly aging whiskies in European Oak, so this is quite a detour from the OB line, while not something we do not see released by IB, it’s still an interesting wood profile HP, worth a tasting, don’t you think?

The packaging is quite unique, and will certainly appeal to HP collectors. HP also released a video explaining all this, have a look:

Highland Park Full Volume 1999 ,47,2%, ~$120 (US) 

Nose: Quite fresh, with citrus notes, and some sweet-ish barley, ripe orange and a hint of exotic fruit (well we’re in bourbon-land..) maybe kiwi  /kumquat sort of touch. There’s some HP peat in there, but not much of it, and the faintest hint of smoke, but really nothing more than that. Vanilla of course, but only a slight touch. it’s mainly on the fruity / citrus / malty notes.

Palate:  There’s more smoke in the palate, and that’s actually nice, it mixes well with the fruitier notes (more of the orange, tangerine), and a touch of BBQ’ed Banana . A wee touch of vanilla, and wood spice, then another whiff of smoke. quite gentle all in all.

Finish: Not the longest finish, but quite nice with the fruit, oak and wee smoke joining forces.

A rather yummy HP, quite different from the regular range. I would have loved to taste this above 50% abv to get a bit more flavor. Not bad at all, and the bottle design is quite appealing. I think $120 is a bit over the top for this , but this is the current market.. and the bottles will sell well. check it out.

Score: 85/100

 

 

 

 

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