When I asked Gerry Tosh - Highland Park's engaging and knowledgeable Global Brand Ambassador (who I notice is now described as ‘Head of Education' on the HP website... I hope this isn't an indication of Political Correctness creeping in...!) - about this expression of his whisky, bottled exclusively for Travel Retail, he said:

" The whisky is designed to be the middle point of flavour between the 18 and 21 year olds. It has the fruity orange notes of the 18 and then delivers the dry spiciness of the 21.
The cask make up has a backbone of American oak sherry casks like the 21 thus for me creates the lighter, sweeter flavours which then allows the smoke to be a little more obvious. The dryness and richness, the counter balance, comes from the use of first fill Spanish oak sherry casks which is reminiscent of the 18 year old".

I had already written my own tasting note, and it picks up and expands upon everything he says.

The flavour of any malt whisky - and remember that ‘flavour' is, by definition, a combination of smell (aroma, or ‘nose' as we call it), texture (‘mouthfeel' in the trade) and taste - comes from three sources: the raw materials (only barley, water and yeast), production (all the craft elements that go into making the spirit - malting, milling, mashing, fermentation, distillation) and maturation (the kind of casks the spirit is filled into).

The most important contributor to flavor is the last, maturation - the casks, which is why Gerry has described the flavor profile in terms of the wood mix.

But let's look first at the ‘raw materials'. Highland Park is one of only five distilleries that malts a significant portion of its own barley on site, in traditional floor maltings. The rest comes from independent maltsters on mainland Scotland, and is blended with their own smoky malt. Until the 1960s, every distillery did it this way, but the demand for Scotch at this time obliged (almost) every other distillery to buy in their malt - made to their own specifications - from large-scale maltings.

Floor malting is labour-intensive and the resulting malt is inconsistent - a pain in the neck for the distiller. In the 1970s, Highland Park experimented with buying in their entire requirement - malted to precisely their own peating levels - from the mainland. But the resulting spirit didn't taste the same because the peat used to dry the ‘green' malt was not Orkadian peat. This is a key contributor to the unique flavor of Highland Park, and they soon reverted to the ‘old way'.

Back to wood. By law, all the casks used to mature Scotch whisky must be made from oak. Two kinds of oak are generally employed: American white oak and European oak. Each contributes its own character and flavour to the whisky: sweet, vanilla and coconut notes in the case of American oak and rich, dried fruit, chocolate and tannic notes from European oak.

The casks are always ‘second hand': typically American oak casks will have formerly held Bourbon, and the European oak casks, sherry. These liquids ‘season' the wood and draw out some of its harsher, more obviously ‘woody' flavours.

Unusually, as Gerry Tosh says, this exclusive Highland Park 1990 makes use of ‘American oak ex-sherry casks' as well as ‘first-fill Spanish oak sherry casks'. The result is a delicious combination of rich, dark flavours and lighter, sweeter, more citric notes.

Those of you who know and love the 18 and 21 year old expressions of this magnificent malt - and I know there are many of you - will not be disappointed!

Tasting Note: Deep amber; sun-bleached polished mahogany.

Water adds maritime ozone to the aroma, sandalwood and more seaweed; the smoke-scent is now drier and more obvious. The taste remains sweet, with a whiff of smoke in the finish.

Occasion: Better enjoyed straight - ideally from a hip flask.

Comment: A wonderful oily texture, and a charmingly ‘old fashioned' flavour profile,
with bags of H-P character. A first rate expression.