Highland Park has unveiled a new 50-year-old single malt Scotch, the third of its age to be created in the distillery’s 223-year history.
The distillery’s 50-year-old whiskies have been created using a traditional solera system, which is often more commonly associated with sherry production. In a solera system, a small quantity of spirit from a previous, older batch is married together with newer spirit, blending the liquids and creating a complex final product.
The new Highland Park 50 Years Old has been carefully selected from nine refill casks, originally laid down in 1968, which were married together in 2008 before being re-racked into a handful of first-fill sherry-seasoned oak casks. After a further 12 years of maturation, one of these limited casks was selected and married with a small quantity of the last 50-year-old whisky released by the distillery.
Only 274 bottles have been created, and each is signed by Highland Park master whisky maker, Gordon Motion. Motion commented: “This 50-year-old whisky is one of our oldest and rarest releases and I’m very proud to have been a part of its journey.
“The whisky is spectacular, when I sampled the whisky from the re-racked casks, the whisky it contained – aged for a little over 50 years – had absorbed the rich sherried flavours of dried fruit and sweet toffee from its final first-fill cask maturation, but still retained all the delicate fragrance and flavours driven by the original refill casks.”
Presented in a handmade wooden box, crafted from walnut by Scottish master craftsman John Galvin, the whisky is encased in an embossed glass bottle featuring a design inspired by the Norse heritage of Highland Park’s Orkney island home. Decorated in intricately decorated metal, a hand-crafted crystal decanter and leather-bound book detailing the story of the whisky complete the presentation.
The new Highland Park 50 Years Old will be available from specialist retailers globally and a limited number will be available from the distillery and online shop from March 2021. For more information, visit the Highland Park website.
The distillery’s 50-year-old whiskies have been created using a traditional solera system, which is often more commonly associated with sherry production. In a solera system, a small quantity of spirit from a previous, older batch is married together with newer spirit, blending the liquids and creating a complex final product.
The new Highland Park 50 Years Old has been carefully selected from nine refill casks, originally laid down in 1968, which were married together in 2008 before being re-racked into a handful of first-fill sherry-seasoned oak casks. After a further 12 years of maturation, one of these limited casks was selected and married with a small quantity of the last 50-year-old whisky released by the distillery.
The bottle"s casing is embellished with intricate metalwork
Only 274 bottles have been created, and each is signed by Highland Park master whisky maker, Gordon Motion. Motion commented: “This 50-year-old whisky is one of our oldest and rarest releases and I’m very proud to have been a part of its journey.
“The whisky is spectacular, when I sampled the whisky from the re-racked casks, the whisky it contained – aged for a little over 50 years – had absorbed the rich sherried flavours of dried fruit and sweet toffee from its final first-fill cask maturation, but still retained all the delicate fragrance and flavours driven by the original refill casks.”
Presented in a handmade wooden box, crafted from walnut by Scottish master craftsman John Galvin, the whisky is encased in an embossed glass bottle featuring a design inspired by the Norse heritage of Highland Park’s Orkney island home. Decorated in intricately decorated metal, a hand-crafted crystal decanter and leather-bound book detailing the story of the whisky complete the presentation.
The new Highland Park 50 Years Old will be available from specialist retailers globally and a limited number will be available from the distillery and online shop from March 2021. For more information, visit the Highland Park website.
The handmade wooden box which houses the whisky was made by master craftsman John Galvin
