The 2018 release of Highland Park 50 Year Old came from just two sherry-seasoned Spanish oak hogsheads filled in 1964, with a little of the distillery's 1960 vintage 50-year-old added. Only 274 bottles were made, each numbered and bottled at 42.5% ABV.
About This Whisky
The two 1964 hogsheads sat untouched until 2008, when they were found at the back of a warehouse. In January 2010 they were married together with a small portion of the 1960 vintage used for the first 50-year-old, then returned to cask for a further eight years. The whisky was hand-bottled without chill-filtration or colouring, and each bottle was signed by whisky maker Max McFarlane. It comes in an oak case by Scottish craftsman John Galvin, holding the bottle, a crystal decanter and a leather-bound book.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Ripe black cherry and muscovado sugar, with a faint edge of cedar.
- Palate: Sweet and intense, moving into dried autumn fruit and warm, toasted wood.
- Finish: Long, with light aromatic peat smoke and gentle spice.
Serving & Food
Treat this as a sipping ceremony: a small pour at room temperature in a crystal tulip glass, neat, with nothing added. Afterwards, a few squares of very dark chocolate or a plate of fresh cherries and almonds sit well beside it.
How to Enjoy
Serious collectors of Orkney malt, and landmark celebrations where a half-century whisky is the point.
Product Details
Producer: Highland Park
Region: Orkney, Scotland
Age: 50 years
Release: 2018
Casks: Two sherry-seasoned Spanish oak hogsheads filled 1964, plus a portion of 1960 vintage
Outturn: 274 bottles
ABV: 42.5%
Volume: 700mL
About the Distillery
Highland Park dates itself to 1798 and to Magnus Eunson, a Kirkwall church officer who, the distillery's own story goes, also ran an illicit still and hid spirit under his pulpit. More than two centuries on, the distillery is still in Kirkwall and still takes its peat from its own patch of Hobbister Moor.
The distillery has been owned by Edrington, the Glasgow-based group behind The Macallan and The Glenrothes, since Edrington took over Highland Distillers in 1999. Over the last two decades it has released a short line of 50-year-old whiskies, each one linked to the last.