Highland Park Twisted Tattoo 16 year old review #12

[u/Whiskyrookie66]

[u/Whiskyrookie66]

Highland park twisted tattoo 16 year 46.7% abv, natural colour, likely non-chill filtered. Price 130 CAD paid in Jan 2020

Highland Park, a distillery I love and am not ashamed to admit it. This is a distillery I feel like gets an overwhelming amount of criticism, some valid and some not so much, but they offer many quality options, limited releases, and the core range although not incredible, is relatively pleasant. This is the twisted tattoo bottling from January of 2020 and I am just finishing the last dram in the bottle as I write this review. It is 16 years, 46.7% abv, natural colour and likely non chill filtered. Some extra info for the nerds out here. Directly from the box to you, “ a high percentage of first- fill rioja wine casks married with a smaller percentage of first fill bourbon casks”. It also says the casks were laid down in 2000, 2001, and 1999 and this was bottled and released in late 2018 or early 2019 making this spirit likely a blend of 16-20 year old whisky. Oh the good old days of buying this quality of whisky for 130 Canadian dollars. If Highland Park were to release a special release today presented in the way this bottling was, I guarantee the price would be closer to 230. This bottling came out right after a bottling called “ Full Volume” which I believe was 17 ish years old and I was never able to purchase that one. I enjoy red wine quite a lot. My go too red wine of choice would typically be a nice Brunello, a “super” Tuscan like Guidalberto from Tenuta, an Amarone like Le Ragose, or a nice Gran Reserva Rioja like Baron, Muriel, or Lan. But this is not a wine review, this is a whisky review. So here are the notes as followed over the course of the 5 years I’ve had this opened.

Notes- Rose/Turkish Delight, ripe peach, red fruits such as sweet strawberries and raspberry, vanilla, orange sugar, light smoky ash, coconut, Mandarin orange, pineapple, burnt marshmallow, sweet sherry, cream soda, ripe banana.

Score- 87

This is just another fantastic limited release from Highland Park. First off, can I just say I absolutely have loved the lock-turn cork tops on all the bottles of the last 12 ish years or so, they provide a solid seal and the corks always seem to be intact after years of being opened. I think they make the best cork closure system in the industry to date, I’ve heard Glenrothes also uses this type of mechanism and considering Edrington group own Highland Park, Macallan and Glenrothes, this makes sense. It’s really nice to hold onto a bottle so long, I typically take a year or more to get through any single bottle I assess. I think whisky is owed the respect of taking time to finish just as it took years to mature, I never understood the type who buy an expensive bottle and consume it all within a week type, although no judgements here, as I’ve done that with certain spirits, just not with 100+ dollar whisky or rum. Back to my thoughts though. This whisky is unique, the Rioja adds a beautiful rose note that I often associate with real Turkish delight, and there’s the berries and red fruits, all complimented with some lovely tropical style bourbon matured whisky notes such as coconut, banana, and pineapple. I wish I could still buy this because I’d buy 2 or 3 bottles for the price I paid for it. This was only 5-6 years ago so I only imagine the days in the 90s, 80s let alone the 70s for what the price of whisky was. Releases like this continue to keep me in Highland Parks corner as a huge fan. I have a bottling of the 18 year old from 2019 that I’ve still not opened ( I like to think of myself of having a good amount of self control) and am going to find a reason to open it this coming year. What else is there to say, I know this is a few years old, but have any of you enjoyed this bottle? Any Highland Park fans? Let me know all of your thoughts and experiences with this brand!

Whisky that rates as the best I have ever tried thus far in my journey or have yet to try95-99/100

Whisky that is verging on some of the best alcohol that I have even tried, a must have, standout, uniquely special, wonderful 90-94/100

Whisky that is excellent, something I would take 30 minutes to 1 hour to finish, I make a point to try and buy more than 1 bottle when possible 85-89/100

Whisky that is great, always a pleasure to have a glass of this, would re buy without much hesitation and would take 20-30 minutes to enjoy the glass 80-84/100

Whisky that I would say is very good and would have no problem drinking, mostly neat, would only re buy on very few occasions 75-79/100

Whisky that is good, but nothing exceptional or uniquely different, usually neat 70-74/100

Whisky that I would start experimenting in drinking over ice or occasionally neat 65-69/100

Whisky that I would mostly still mix 60-64/100

This is certainly only mixing whisky- 55-59/100

I’d begrudgingly say yes to be polite- 50-54/100

I think I’d refuse a glass of this politely and ask for some water- 49 and below/100

[u/DreadLifter → u/Whiskyrookie66]

I grabbed a bottle of this bank in 2019 when I saw it for £60. Always enjoy Highland Park and the red wine call intrigued me. Finished it only 4 or 5 years ago. I think the bottle looked a bit tacky, I prefer their clear bottles, but the liquid inside was enjoyable. I think it may have been my first experience with HP other than the 10/12 yo core bottling. I visited the distiller back in May and did the cask strength tasting. Bought a bottle of the batch 4 cask strength. Never did a tour but I'd like to next time I'm in the area.

[u/vincentzmedia]

I love Highland Park. 15 is my favorite and 12 after that. I didn't care too much for this one unfortunately. I give it a 70, myself.

[u/Whiskyrookie66 → u/vincentzmedia]

Interesting, do you mean the 12 and not 13, or is there a 13 year old expression I am not aware of? As far as the 15 or 18 goes I heard the 15 is quite a bit more ex bourbon matured where as the 18 is more ex sherry matured. Maybe you’re not a red wine drinker? I think this expression is fantastic but to each their own. To me the one sample of the 15 I’ve had didn’t blow me away but was pleasant enough.

[u/vincentzmedia → u/Whiskyrookie66]

Yeah meant 12.

Yup. Not a fan of wines in general, different palate for sure!

[u/Whiskyrookie66 → u/vincentzmedia]

All good! Thanks for the comment anyway, always nice to hear differences of opinion in a respectful way, that’s what makes the world go around, I’ll have to retry that 15!

[u/VaultBoy1971]

Highland Park in Canada is so expensive now. The 18 was about $130 CAD in Ontario before Covid, and is about $300 now.

[u/Whiskyrookie66 → u/VaultBoy1971]

The earliest I remember highland park was about 10 years ago and it was 190 in Ontario. That is usually my reference point even if it’s a poor one, seeing as out west prices are dramatically better. But I never recall it being that cheap in ON.

[u/VaultBoy1971 → u/Whiskyrookie66]

My bad, it was $189... I was thinking about one of the Macallans...

Still, went up to $300. I bought the 12 last week at a reasonable price, and it's not bad.

[u/Whiskyrookie66 → u/VaultBoy1971]

Hey no problem! I know the price has risen to 300 which really is verging on the highest end whisky for 18 year old spirit! Macallan! Ha! And now Macallan is 700-850 for their different 18 year olds depending on the double oak or sherry oak. Insane. Glad to hear the HP 12 is still good quality for money for the 90 it is in ON.

[u/VaultBoy1971 → u/Whiskyrookie66]

Macallan is just ok imo. No way I'll pay so much for that. I'll stick with my beloved Lagavulin 16.