Highland Park 27yo, 1990-2018, The Whisky Hoop, Signatory Vintage, Refill sherry butt 573, Pitlochry PH165JP, 50.8% abv.

I see this bottle at most bars in Japan and the bartenders tend to promote it. Signatory is... well... signatory and The Whisky Hoop is a sort of Japanese IB, marketed towards the Japanese consumer. An interesting observation is I tried this bottle when it came out around August/September 2018. Moving forward to Spring of 2019, I notice it's still a promoted bottle. I didn't know if it was economics or if the bottle isn't as good as marketed (my opinionated grade is at the bottom), but it is industrially noticeable that many whisky hoop selections are quite plain, especially the black label ones.

Nose: sweet, cherry syrup, toast, a sour sherry profile.

Palate: what the heck?! initial palate is very sour, chemically sour, not the citrus type of sour, mid palate is like sucking on soured beef jerky with very little beef flavor, sucking on lemons without the citrus aspect, back palate has some sour bitterness. After a good amount of time and down to my last sip, it got better! More like treated fruit, sweeter flavors surface, sour plums, raspberries, less sour, less intense, more focused.

Finish: long, numbing, slight hint of smoke, water soaked mushrooms. After a long time, the finish becomes more red berry fruit friendly, like boiled fruits.

Dry glass: sweet red fruit and wax.

I thought the age would smooth out the edges and add some depth to the flavor profile, but in this case it just seemed to mature in the wrong direction. After a long time, it gets more sweet and the sour aspects seem to attenuate. Even though it got really good after long air time, I'm going to have to grade it on what I just experienced. Hope to revisit.

Grade: D, I might have tasted it too early.

Couldn't find quantifiable, reliable reviews.

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

🇭🇰 🇺🇸(LA, SF) -> 🇯🇵 (京都, 東京) -> 🇰🇷 (서울, 부산)