Highland Park 50 Year Old Release 2018 Single Malt Whisky w/box 700ml

Whiskymaker's note:
Our 2018 batch of Highland Park 50 Year Old was hand bottled from just two Spanish oak, sherry seasoned, hogshead casks. First filled in 1964, these casks lay undisturbed until 2008 when they were first sampled and discovered to be of astonishing quality. In January 2010, we married the two casks together, introducing a little of the 1960 vintage from our earlier batch of 50 Year Old, before returning the newly married whisky to its hogsheads and leaving it to harmonise for a further eight years. Yielding just 274 bottles, this is an intensely rich whisky with sweet notes of ripe black cherries and Muscovado sugar giving way to dried autumn fruits and warm toasted wood. It delivers the merest hint of cedar wood, wrapped in our signature light and peaty aromatic smoke.
Color: Deep ruby, clear and bright (average colour tint 35)
Flavors: Sweet dried fruits, Muscovado sugar, Black cherries, Nutmeg, Cedar wood, Light peat smoke

To ensure every bottle of Highland Park reaches you in perfect condition, the whisky is harmonised. Each individual batch of Highland Park is drawn together from a variety of cask types, contributing an array of distinct, unique flavours and additional harmonisation for up to six months perfectly marries them together. The impact this marriage has on the whisky is nothing short of stunning and ensures consistency, as well as adding complexity and exceptional balance on the palate.
The majority of the Scotch whisky industry uses ex-bourbon barrels for maturation. At Highland Park, bourbon barrels are not routinely filled. Traditional oak casks are used; butts, puncheons or hogsheads – no barrels – all seasoned with dry Oloroso sherry, which contribute to the distinctive richness in the resulting whisky. Spanish oak casks seasoned with sherry give colour, spice and dried fruit character, whereas American oak sherry seasoned casks give lighter, sweeter vanilla and butterscotch flavours. Sherry oak casks are far more expensive but the view at Highland Park is that they are worth it for the rich character and natural colour they provide to the maturing spirit.
One of the fundamental flavours in Highland Park single malt whisky is the delicate, sweet, aromatic peat smoke, which has given Highland Park its unique character since 1798. The Orkney Islands have an abundance of this sweet, heathery peat, which is around 4000 years old and is carefully selected from Hobbister Moor. The peat we cut is a mixture of textures and aromas ranging from a more floral heather-rich top layer, to a darker, denser material, the mixture giving the resulting smoke a slow burning and complex aroma.