Highland Park 1985 Scott’s Selection [Feather’s Flight Review Set #11]

And now for the last region of my most recent Feather’s Pub flight reviews.

Yes, I didn’t do any Islays or Campbeltowns. Funny enough, I like both of them quite a bit, however I like to stick to 4-6 drams for one of these, and decided that we shouldn’t hang out in a bar for 12 hours straight.

For some reason. Still trying to remember why. Maybe the neighbours would talk? Yeah, let’s go with that.

My final dram is Highland Park 1985 Scott’s Selection. This 19 year old dram is, I assume, aged the same way as other Highland Park drams, in bourbon and sherry casks. I don’t 100% know. I know it’s undiluted, so that’s something, And I know all the fancy numbers below.

So, I went off the beaten path, to check out the grass over there. Let’s see if it makes me paranoid and hanker for Double Stuff Oreos.

Price: N/A

Distilled: 1985

Bottled: 2004

Region: Island

Abv: 54%

Colour: 2.5Y 8/8

Nose: Grapefruit, pine, mint, orange, iodine, lemongrass, lime

Reminds me of Highland Park right off the bat; acidic, fruity, a little bit of salt, and just the right amount of mint.

However there’s a pine note that is odd in an older dram.

Taste: Lots of butter, squash, oily, pepper, cream, herbes

Holy butter. This is super buttery. Hard to get past the butter at all.

Kinda like my diet! Ha!

Oh god I need to lose weight.

I added some water, and it opened up. However I didn’t find too much to this beyond butter. Kinda a let down.

Finish: Caramel, lime, cereal, floral, oak, cardamon, nut, ginger, mint

Good finish. Lots of complexity, and it really benefits from the cask strength of this one.

Really spicy as well, and the cereal note shine through after some water.

Conclusion: First off, add some water to this one. It needs it, even after a long time of letting it sit.

That said, I think some of the OBs are better than this one. It sounds good on paper: Cask Strength, slightly older, different path from a different group. Yet something’s… missing.

I think it’s the taste that puts me off. The nose and finish are different and fun, yet the finish is way, way too unbalanced. Which is too bad. It drags down the score.

Oh well. Try it if you like. It’ll be different.

81/100

Scotch review #357, Island review #32, Whisky Network Review #544