While everyone who was at the tasting at Maltstock was promised to be in on the selection process I never got these samples (damn you, mail man!). Which meant, I never tasted this dram even though a cartoony version of me is on the label! Don’t start looking, without a list of names you’ll never find me since I look exactly the same as 15 other people on the label.

Anyway, during my afternoon in Jon Beach’s whisky parlor this was sitting on the table too. I knew it was, but not in which glass until I determined it had to be the second one.

Highland Park Batch 1, the Maltstock Edition

Sniff:
A rather gentle nose with flavours of vanilla and some slightly burnt caramel. There are touches of spice and wax in there too.

Sip:
The palate is gentle and soft with dry oak and weak tea.

Swallow:
The finish goes back to the spicy touches and doesn’t last very long. It turns a bit mineral-y. By that I mean you get to flavours of stone and iron.

No big tasting notes here. A nice ‘session dram’ as people like to call it. By that I mean it’s a whisky that is easily drinkable and doesn’t require a whole lot of attention to be appreciated. If you start paying attention you do notice, however, that it’s not a very special dram. There isn’t too much to be discovered.

Honestly, for a dram like this I think the price of £ 75 for 50cl is pretty steep. There isn’t much that Master of Malt/That Boutique-y Whisky Company can do about the prices of casks or old bottles to be blended together but I, for one, was hoping for a dram with more impact.

The fact that I knew how to pick this one from the line-up was a process of elimination. I would not have been able to say it’s a Highland Park on it’s own I think.

Highland Park, Batch 1, 44.7%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company. Available for £ 75 at Master of Malt.