Side by side : Four Highland Park 12yos

You can find Highland Park's 12yo in most supermarkets in the UK but whilst this is matured in ex-sherry casks for me ex-bourbon is the way to go, here I'll try some in my side by side format.

The distillery 12yo verses 2 from SMWS and 1 from Cadenhead.

Highland Park is only 1 of 2 distilleries on Orkney, built in 1798 by local farmer David Robertson, was originally known by the name Rosebank and then Kirkwall. By 1875 it was know as Highland Park and owned by  William Stuart who also owned Miltonduff. James Grant (previously the manager of The Glenlivet) took control in 1895 and expanded the distillery. Highland Distillers took control in 1937 and is now part of the Edrington Group. 

Highland Park have their own Malting Floor which produce about 25% of their malted barley requirements. Local heather rich peat is used to dry it.

Photo: The Malt Desk

A 6.4 tonne Mash Tun is used to fill 12 wooden 36,000 litre Washbacks for a c80 hours fermentation.

Two 18,000 litre Wash and two 12,000 litre Spirit Stills distil the peated new make.

Highland Park, like Tamdhu, only release whisky matured in sherry seasoned casks themselves but fill ex-bourbon for blends and sale to independent bottlers.

Let's see how the whiskies taste:

Dram	12yo Distillery Bottling	2008 12yo SMWS 4.260 Old porkney	2008 12yo SMWS 4.270 From heather moor to sea shore	2009 12yo Cadenhead Warehouse tasting
Characteristics	40% ABV Chillfiltered	61.3% ABV 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel	61.3% ABV 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel	63.5% ABV Bourbon Barrel
Distillery notes	Matured predominantly in European and American sherry seasoned oak casks, our iconic 12 Year Old single malt whisky is spicy and well-rounded, packed with the flavours of sun-kissed Seville oranges and rich fruitcake spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; you’ll find molten heather honey in this whisky’s waves of heathery peat smoke. Why not try it with a handful of wasabi peas on the side or alongside a sizzling, pan-fried rib-eye steak or with smoked salmon and sour cream.	Old porkney We found this dram to be clothed in wax jackets and wellies at first sniffing. Coal smoke was stuck to its clothes and it had clearly just come in out of the rain! Notes of watermelon charred over a burning whisky barrel. Hints of wet granite, cooling BBQ embers and some quietly frazzling bacon lardons. With reduction came scorched cinnamon sticks, petrol, varnished wood and salted butter with bobbing chunks of fudge. The mouth opened with masses of spice and rumbles of damp smoke. Coal sacks, heather ales, river reeds and wet clay. Some applewood smoked cheddar and hints of hot buffalo sauce. Water brought charred orange skins, iron filings, dried oregano and wild mint growing amongst nettles - all trampled by a hefty welly-booted whisky geek! A long, sizzling and smouldering finish follows on. In 2017 we combined selected hogsheads before returning the single malt to a variety of different casks to develop further. This is one of those casks.	From heather moor to sea shore This small batch Orcadian nectar was transferred into a first-fill bourbon barrel after nine years. The nose is bright and innocent – gorse and heather, singed lemon peel and custard tarts; a trickle of incense smoke shyly appears. The palate; more gallus than innocent, discovers pineapple humps, apricot Danishes, toffee, honey on toast, sweet coconut and oiled wood. The reduced nose gets iced lemon cupcakes, leather and jasmine hedgerows – a ramble from the heather moor to the shore. The palate now discovers rhubarb rock, green apple and heather stems dipped in heather honey; the finish finds green wood, black tea and quince jelly.	None
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line and fall as quick fat legs	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin beaded line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, form small beads and fall as slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, form small beads and fall as slow thin legs.
Nose	Peppery spice, floral heather notes and a hint of honey. There's a little citrus and some salted caramel.	Tropical fruit - pineapple, mango. Some salted caramel notes and a hint of smoked lime zest. A little time and air offers the floral heathery notes we expect of HP.	Citrus leads on this one - lemon zest. There's smoky heather and the tropical fruit from the 260 but it's not as salty, a little more smoky.	This one is the opposite of the 270 - it leads on the smoke, gentle embers on a beach - with hints of salty seaweed. The tropical fruit is here and a little hint of citrus.
Palate	Thin arrival, sweet honey, salted caramel, smoky bacon a hint of tropical fruit. Very warming, a little mixed fruit jam and leaving a lovely peppery bite as the liquid disappears.	Thick mouthcoating arrival, very dry and sweet - dried pineapple covered in icing sugar, some marzipan notes and a bite of citrus. A little water ramps up the citrus - we're getting lemon juice which leaves a zing on the tongue as the liquid disappears.	Again a thick mouthcoating arrival, peppery spice, smoked bacon and sweet honey. Huge lemon zest notes. There's a  dark nutty chocolate note I've not seen on the other three drams. A little water makes this a little drier - the tropical fruit comes through and the smoke reduces a little.	Again a thick mouthcoating arrival (that's NCF for you), smoky bacon, salted caramel and a bite of nutmeg spice - very drying. A little water adds the sweet fruit missing when compared to the SMWS pair but also ramps up the smoke note - we could be on Islay here!
Finish	Short fruit hints with a little smoke.	Lingering tropical fruit, citrus and honey with a little smoke.	Lingering honey, a little dry oak and a lovely lemon pepper spice.	Lingering heathery smoke, a little sour citrus and a bite of dry spice.
Overall	A lot of people knock the standard 12yo, I actually prefer the 10yo (it was sold as the Rebus30 in the UK), but it is a supermarket staple that many people buy - hopefully as an introduction to what HP is capable of. The problem is the other distillery releases are surrounded by daft names, silly stories and expensive price tags. Where you need to go is to the indie bottlers and that's what I've done with the other three. Just to put this in perspective, I tried two of these blind and bought a bottle of each immediately afterwards - the SMWS 260 and the Cadenhead. The distillery bottling includes some sherry seasoned casks in it's make up - that gives it a little colour (it's not coloured) and some jam notes. The three higher strength drams, all I'm assuming from 1st fill bourbon have taken different paths through the maze of HP's tasting notes - all share tropical fruit, citrus and salty smoke but they differ in their level. 260 leads with the fruit, 270 with the citrus and Cadenhead's with the smoke. All really good and show that HP can produce really good whisky. For an order I'd go reverse to how I tried them: Cadenhead, 270, 260 and then the distillery bottling.