highland park 2003 15 years old wu dram clan dutch flagship stores

Highland Park 2003 15 Years Old (Wu Dram Clan & Dutch Flagship Stores)

There’s been a bunch of official single cask releases from Highland Park hitting the market, bottled for shops or clubs or whatever. One of these is cask number 6162, a first-fill European oak sherry cask, picked by members of the German Wu Dram Clan, and shared with the Dutch market, bottled as a single cask for the Dutch Flagship Stores.

I was kindly sent a sample of this apparent sherry monster by Boris Borissov, who was also involved a few other whiskies I’ve reviewed on here, namely this Lagavulin and this Springbank.

Highland Park 2003 15 Years Old (58.2%, OB, C#6162)

Nose: An initial hit of struck matches that isn’t extremely dominant, but it doesn’t really subside either. Notes of espresso, dark chocolate, molasses and forest fruits as well. A whiff of cocoa butter and vanilla pods too. Super intense and dense.
Taste: Creamy and pretty polished, which hasn’t always been my experience with Highland Park at this strength and age. The sulphur makes an encore, but there’s also shortbread, blackberries, burnt caramel and a barely detectable whisper of smoke. A touch of pepper as well.
Finish: Lingering pepper and somewhat drying. A touch of espresso. Long.

Score: 87

On the edge of being too sulphured (for me at least). I’ve read a few other reviews of this, and the only other one mentioning sulphur was Ruben, which I found surprising. Yet it has enough redeeming qualities to be very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing, Boris!

Sample provided by Wu Dram Clan

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