Highland Park's Vintage 1990 is a 33-year-old from the distillery's Vintage Series, married from five hand-picked casks in 2023 and bottled at 44.9% ABV. Bright fruit and delicate florals lead, with the Orkney smoke kept in the background.
About This Whisky
Gordon Motion began with 34 ex-bourbon casks filled in 1990 and re-racked them into first-fill sherry-seasoned European and American oak hogsheads as well as refill hogsheads. After further ageing he picked five: three European oak hogsheads, one American oak hogshead and one refill hogshead. They were married in August 2023 and rested together before bottling, with a reported run of 1,219 individually numbered bottles.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Ripe pear, pink grapefruit, geranium and violet, lifted by a soft cloud of smoke.
- Palate: Mandarin and grapefruit over creamy vanilla, toasted coconut and warm nutmeg.
- Finish: Fruity and long, with fresh-cut wood and heathery peat smoke.
Serving & Food
Pour a measured dram at room temperature into a fine tulip glass and take it slowly without water; at 44.9% it is already gentle. Match it with langoustines, a citrus panna cotta or a soft-rind cheese such as Brillat-Savarin.
How to Enjoy
A quiet, elegant old malt for marking a 1990 anniversary or for those who prize fruit and finesse over power.
Product Details
Distillery: Highland Park
Country: Scotland
Region: Orkney
Series: Vintage Series
Vintage: 1990
Age: 33 years
Cask Detail: Ex-bourbon casks re-racked into first-fill sherry-seasoned European and American oak hogsheads and refill hogsheads; five casks married in August 2023
Bottles: 1,219 (reported)
ABV: 44.9%
Volume: 700mL
About the Distillery
Highland Park sits on the edge of Kirkwall, Orkney's main town, well to the north of the Scottish mainland. Atlantic wind scours the islands, so few trees grow; instead the moors are covered in heather, and the peat cut from Hobbister Moor, a few miles from the distillery, is built up from heather and low shrubs laid down over thousands of years.
Burnt in the distillery kilns, that peat gives a fragrant, floral smoke rather than the medicinal style associated with Islay. The distillery still malts part of its own barley on site and has made whisky in Kirkwall since 1798.