Highland Park

Last night, I went and bought something I've never purchased before... a bottle of single malt scotch.


I asked a guy here at work for some recommendations, and have scoured the Internet for recommendations.

What I came up with was this:


Highland Park 12 year..


Before I go into my tasting review, let me disclose my prior scotch interactions. I've had a few blends here and there over the years.. nothing I can really remember, mainly because I wasn't paying attention at the time.

Since then, I've had 2 other single malts..

The first was Glenmorangie Port Wood finish. I had this at my wife's company Christmas party a few years ago. The host was kind enough to bring out a bottle of it. Poor guy.. He had a glass, and then a friend and I polished off the rest.
What I remember about it was that it was very very smooth, and I really enjoyed it.
And, I was really really drunk afterwards.

The second was Lagavulin 16 year.. I had this at a local upscale restaurant. It had a very smoky nose to it.. I enjoyed this as well.


Since having these, I've read that they aren't good starter scotches. Oops.

I'd prefer to try these things at a local bar, but the only bars in the area are either the T.G.I. Friday's type, or the local "old man" bars. I frequent both, but neither is good for finding scotch.
The upscale restaurants will have scotch, but one of them charges $17 for a single of Lagavulin. If I can go buy a bottle at $60 or something, it's almost more effective to just do that.

So, I went to go buy a bottle.. I won't get as much variety, not being able to buy single glasses, but hey.. nothing ventured, nothing gained.


You see my tasting glass there.. Not an official scotch tulip style glass or anything, but I can get my nose in there.


On to the scotch. This Highland Park is... straight forward. It's a good scotch.. good for beginners, certainly. I know I'm a beginner, and I can't really comment as well as a pro can.

The Highland Park is slightly smoky, not as much as the Lagavulin by any means. It's fairly smooth. Got a nice caramel looking color to it. I didn't add any water to it.. I figured I'd try that on the next tasting. Adding water can "open up" the taste and aromas, and you can notice new things, by doing that.

Not a bad first purchase, but I'll probably try a different scotch once this bottle is gone, just for variety's sake.