Islands region – 48.3% ABV – £25,000 or $40,000 (40 bottles that each come with a Linn Sondek LP12 Turntable).

Ummm, yeah…. so… something crazy just happened in my mouth.

I just poured and tasted some of the oldest Highland Park whisky released to date (their 50yo being older than this one, obviously).  As I sat here nosing and tasting the whisky, besides taking notes as fast and furiously as I could, I began to wonder: how on G-d’s green earth could I be so lucky as to taste this juice?!

I am reviewing a whisky that few people in the world can afford.  And, even if all the folks in the world that could afford a bottle tried to get a bottle, they couldn’t.  Forty bottles.  Forty.  Four Zero.  40 bottles released in total.

I can not argue with the price tag of £25,000/$40,000 given the scarcity of the juice and what a bottle comes with:  A Linn Sondek LP12 (and one made with a Highland Park cask).  I was a music geek before I ever got into whisky.  On top of this, I have been a collector of vinyl for years.  I am well aware of Linn as their turntables are the holy grail of turntables. Limted edition Linn Sondek LP12 meets limited edition 40yo Highland Park?!  Where was that bank I wanted to rob???…

Here are my notes for the Highland Park 40yo:

On the nose  –  The first word(s) that comes to mind is wood-tar creosote and an almost mesquite-like, warm-autumn day fired up grill.  Fresh spring rain with old style raincoats as well! Mix in dark chocolates and we are in Wowsville!

Have you heard this one?  A 55 year old maintenance worker walks in to a used book shop with an old wooden tool chest in one hand and teak-wood polish in the other.

Waiting for the punchline?  Don’t those were tasting notes, my friend!!

Truly a lovely Highland Park here with tons of distinguished character.

This is what a Yale professor of bio-ethics drinks on the last day of his career, methinks.

On the mouth – Quite lively on the tongue with a lightly viscous mouthfeel.

Candied orange rinds, polished wood (a la Violin Hero) and 70’s Good and Fruity candies.

After a little time in the glass my next taste reveal cooked, carmelized sugar and powdered police donuts.  There’s an Astropop like quality both in flavor and in the feel of the fluid against the tongue.

Better put, there’s a waxiness to this whisky that I usually only find in Brora or Clynlish (well, sometimes Old Pulteney).

It’s sort of amazing.

Finish – Long, drying finish with some menthol at the very back of the palate.

In sum – 20 minutes in the glass opened this whisky right up.

I will try to explain how luck I am to have tasted this whisky…

A) it was distilled in my birth year, 1973

B) There are only 40 bottles available

C) You can only get a bottle by buying this Linn amazing turntable (which, sadly, we can not afford for my 40th birthday).

D) I don’t currently have $40,000 unless I tap into my 401k which would, of course, initial a divorce.

I’ve got a large vinyl collection that’s just screaming to be played on that turntable while I enjoy some 40yo Highland Park.

Register here for your interest in the whisky and turntable.  Contact me if you need a shipping address to accept your wonderfully generous gift! 🙂

This whisky is in the running for best whisky tasted in 2013.

Special thanks for SR for the sample!