Top 7 Afterparty & Late Night Bottles: Highland Park Cask Strength

We’re going from strength to strength on this list of big time bottles that I recommend you break out after the day or holiday party winds down and only the creme de la creme of company is still present. And shock of shocks, we’re going back to Scotland.

Highland Park Cask Strength, or at least the Release No. 1, still has the best nose of any whisky I’ve ever found, regardless of mash bill or origin. You could easily spend an hour just nosing this, and it would be time well-spent. This nose instantly will put on a seaside hill above an Orcadian beach at nightfall, with wet moss and burning driftwood surrounding you.

Once you actually get around to drinking it, the situation only improves. A cavalcade of heather peat, caramel, honey, oak, salt air, and vanilla fudge each take their turn in the spotlight, unfurling at a glacial pace. If you’ve never had heather peated scotch, this an equally intense but wildly different animal from an Islay iodine-heavy peat. I’ve seen bourbon drinkers who avoid Laphroaig at all costs adore this bottle, but simultaneously, dyed in the wool peatheads equally cherish this bottle. It’s a rock star no matter the tastes of your company of whisky fans. While this bottle is a NAS, this obviously is a passion project for Gordon Motion and only elite barrels were included. And at 126 proof, they sing.

Conclusion: For a true one-of-a-kind bottle that a single pour will take up your evening, look no further.

Image courtesy of Jon who also writes on Low Class & High Proof.

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