Founded in 1798, Highland Park is a distillery with a deep history and even deeper web site. While we’ll get to the scotch in a few moments, it is worth noting that the Highland Park web site is a virtual encyclopedia. The presentation is pretty good, but the information contained within is off the charts. The level of detail they go in to about their history, region and process is quite extensive. They also have one of the best tasting and nosing guides that I’ve seen.

It seems like for every review I write, there is a distillery that touts something as their claim to fame and Highland Park is no different. Spend as little as two minutes on their web site of exceptional verbosity and you’ll run across the claim that they are “one of only a handful of distilleries where the expensive and physically demanding custom of turning malt by hand still takes place.” I’m not real certain about the significance of this fact, but figured if they went to the trouble of making the claim over and over again, some of you might have an opinion on the matter.

Color
As for the scotch itself, my immediate impression of the Highland Park 12y was that the packaging is very striking, but the color is quite pale. The distiller notes the color as “Glowing Amber”, but I would have to disagree on that one as I felt it looked a little bit more like “Light Beer”.

Nose
My guard went up with the color, but quickly came down with the nose. It has a decidedly earthy, peaty aroma, but had just the right touch of sweetness to suggest a reasonably balanced palate.

Palate
The nose didn’t fail me on this one as the palate confirmed my suspicions that this single malt would have a fairly smokey flavor with only a touch of fruity sweetness. The palate is quite smooth and easy though and I was a little surprised. I expected it to taste stronger and a bit harsher than than it did.

Finish
The finish isn’t particularly long, but this is where the sweetness finally starts to gets equal time with the peat and smoke.

Highland Park 12y is a pretty good single malt, but not one that has left much of an impression on me. It simply doesn’t fit my preferences. That being said, the one thing I do like about this scotch is that this is a very accessible single malt that favors the peat and smoke over the fruit and honey. Most single malts that fit that flavor profile tend to be strong and a bit much for casual whisky drinkers. This makes the Highland Park 12y a very good introductory scotch for someone drawn to more earthy single malts. While I haven’t tried any of the other Highland Park varieties, I would imagine that the 12yr is the perfect “starter scotch” for their line of products.

After reading some other reviews of this scotch, I noticed that many other sites mention that this is a good scotch for making mixed drinks. Personally, scotch is the last spirit I look to when making mixed drinks, but I can definitely see where this would be a better choice than an Oban or Balvenie. Something to keep in mind.

I’m a sucker for a nicely presented bottle of wine and while I didn’t personally pick out this bottle, it fits the profile of wines I usually single out on a crowded shelf. It has a simple, but colorful label on a dark bottle with a cheetah in mid stride. The overall presentation is quite striking.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m not really fond of fruity wines and I was not real crazy about what my nose was telling me with this Shiraz. It smelled heavily of berries and had an aroma that told me this was going to be sweet. As is typically the case, my nose wasn’t exactly spot on in its assumptions, but it wasn’t far off either. The flavor was better than I expected, the palate was a little more fruity than woody, but not nearly as much as I expected it to be. The finish was pleasant and about as dry as I normally like my wines to be. Overall, the wine was a little “light” for my tastes, but not at all unpleasant.

As I mentioned earlier the biggest problem with most vanilla K-Cups is how weak they are. I’ve heard, on more than one occasion, one coffee drinker ribbing another coffee drinker for drinking a flavored coffee. The implication being that real men don’t drink flavored coffee. So what, real men only eat vanilla ice cream? I’m not sure where that one started, but I bet it had something to do with the fact that most flavored coffees (K-Cup or otherwise) tend to be pretty weak. This is no light blend with a teaspoon of vanilla extract. The Timothy’s French Vanilla K-Cup, however, is anything but weak. This coffee is a very well balanced cup of joe with a subtle taste of vanilla.

If you like a little flavor in your coffee now and then, but still want to taste like coffee, then you should try the Timothy’s French Vanilla K-Cup.

Most of the single malts I have reviewed on the site, to date, have come from the Speyside region of Scotland and the Oban is my first from the west coast of Scotland. The distillery is located smack dab in the middle of the coastal resort community of Oban; called the “Gateway to the Isles”. While officially considered a “Highland” variety; Oban, much like the town is more of a “Gateway to Islay Malts”. It is in essence a well balanced blend between the Speyside and Islay varietals of single malt scotch.

I still remember going through the most convoluted, unscientific selection process nearly ten years ago when I selected my first bottle of single malt scotch. I was immediately drawn to the simple, historic feeling of the packaging. It was clean, simple, and just had that look of “We’ve been doing this a while and we know what the hell we’re doing.” When I read that the malt master was a MacDougall (My Mother’s maiden name) I took it as a sign and put my $55.00 down on the table. When I pulled the bottle out of the tube, I was stunned by the beauty of the golden liquid inside and that color has since been my benchmark fro what a good single malt should look like. It is unfair, I know, but such is life.

This is one complex single malt with a lot of things going on at once. The nose is fragrant and sweet, but it is also telling you to look for smoke coming from the bottle. That there will be two sides to every story your senses will tell throughout the tasting. The body is full and substantial, but it is quite smooth and rich. The palate is warming and the overall taste is substantially more malty and smoky than the other single malts I have reviewed (except the Ardmore perhaps). The finish, on the other hand, is fruity, smooth, and quite long. In fact, it is without a doubt my favorite part.

The Oban 14 Y.O is still my favortite single malt, but I will say it isn’t quite as legendary as my memory had built it up to be. Still it is a mighty fine scotch and one I would recommend to just about anyone.

This particular bottle of wine hails from the El Bierzo region in Spain. I had never heard of the region before, but I wouldn’t exactly say I was surprised to learn that it existed. According to regulations by the DO (Governing body of wine makers in Spain), Crianza wines must be aged a minimum of 6 months in oak casks and 18 months in the bottle.

Immediately upon opening the bottle I detected a rather strong, fruity aroma. I don’t really like my wines really dry and woody, but I’d rather have a tall glass of Welch’s grape juice than an overly fruity glass of vino. I poured two healthy servings for my wife and I and couldn’t help but notice the strong aroma of berries. I was growing concerned that I was not going to like this wine very much. Upon first taste, however, all of my fears quickly evaporated. The flavor contained an excellent balance between the fruity overtones of dark berry and yet had a nice amount of that woody, dry taste you expect from a good red. Overall, my wife and I absolutely loved the wine. We just couldn’t get over how balanced the taste was. It went down nice and smooth and had a nice even finish.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not one to drop a whole lot of money down on a bottle of anything. I get the shakes whenever I reach for a quality single malt of more than $50 bucks and damn near hyper-ventilate when I buy a cigar for more than $8 dollars a stick. You can call me cheap if you want, but I haven’t got a lot of money to spend on luxuries these days. Imagine my surprise when I learned that this fine bottle of wine costs a whopping $10.00! I can honestly say that this is the best red I’ve had under $50, let alone $15.

The Ardmore distillery, in Aberdeenshire, has been producing whisky since 1898 and they pride themselves on doing things the old fashioned way. Ardmore has one of the best web sites for a distillery on the Net. While it is a little heavy on the flash, they have a wealth of information including great video tours. I definitely recommend checking it out. The information to be gained is well worth the time.

The Ardmore Traditional Cask is ‘fully’ peated whisky and matured twice. The first maturation uses American oak, used bourbon casks and the second maturation uses old school quarter casks designed to give it a more traditional single malt flavor. According to Ardmore, this is the only scotch whisky that is fully peated and has been since its creation, more than one hundred years ago.

This whisky has a light amber color that is a touch more yellow than gold. The aroma has a slightly fruity smell, but the strength (92 proof) is quite detectable with the nose alone. This particular single-malt is a bit too much for me ‘neat’ and I highly recommend you serve it on the rocks or with a dash of water. Fortunately, you can always claim that you’re adding water for the taste, because a little bit of water really does open up the flavor significantly. Ardmore’s claims about the amount of peating done with this particular single malt is backed up 100% as soon this scotch passes your lips. The predominant flavors in this whisky is smoke and peat with a touch of vanilla. I found the smokiness and peat overtones a bit overpowering at first and it took a little getting used to. The finish was long and warming, but not unpleasantly so.

I have never been a big fan of really smoky single malts, but I know that there are a lot of you out there that love them. If you like your single malts nice and smoky, than the Ardmore Highland Single Malt Traditional Cask is definitely something you should try; that is, if you can find it.

Daybreak Morning Blend is a light bodied cup of coffee that is designed to ease you in to your day. While the flavor is light, it is not without flavor offering a slight nutty flavor that is quite appealing. The word “mellow” could be used to describe this coffee and many different ways including taste, smell, and appearance. The flavor holds up reasonably well for a “light” coffee, but I find it gets a little thin at the largest size. There is no way you would want to try and eek out another cup out of this K-Cup no matter how desperate you might be.

Overall, Daybreak Morning Blend is the best light bodied coffee I’ve tried to date.

Caribou’s signature blend is a medium roast that combines has a heavy, rich flavor that is at first quite bold, but mellows out with a touch of fruity sweetness. I’m not sure why my taste buds are programmed the way they are, but when it comes to cigars, coffee, or even salsa; medium is the way to go. Caribou Blend fits that bill nicely, giving me just enough flavor to be interesting without pummeling me in to submission. The flavor of this particular blend holds up real well even at the largest size and I have actually run the same K-Cup twice at the small (6 oz.) setting into the same mug. It was weak, but drinkable. (Desperate times …)

The Caribou Blend is a very fine medium roast that has quickly become my “go-to” coffee in the morning, afternoon, and evening (Decaf).

All of my coffee reviews are performed using K-Cup varieties (unless noted otherwise) brewed using a Keurig Special Edition B60. Each review will feature any special notes related to the three different cup sizes this model can brew. These sizes are small (6 oz.), medium (8 oz.), and large (10 oz.). Typically, the smaller the size the stronger the coffee, but this is not always the case.

On a recent family vacation to picturesque North Conway, NH, I stopped in to a local liquor store and set about finding a reasonably priced single malt to enjoy in the clean mountain air of northern New Hampshire. While perusing their rather limited selection, I came across a rather distinctive tube titled “Glennfiddich Solera Reserve Single Malt” for $36.00. I had my next bottle of scotch.

The Glenfiddich Distillery is located in the Speyside region of northeastern Scotland, a region well known for quality single malts due in large part to the success of Glenlivet, Balvenie, and of course Glenfiddich. Founded in 1876 by William Grant, Glenfiddich is the flagship whisky for William Grant & Sons who also own another personal favorite of mine, The Balvenie Distillery.

As I mentioned earlier, the packaging of the Solera Reserve was quite distinctive. The bottle is all Glenfiddich with its triangular shape, embossed seal on the neck and a colorful burgundy and gold label. The label features the traditional Glenfiddich logo with golden stag behind the brand name. Normally, I’d deduct points (metaphorically speaking) for the plastic domed, cork stopper, but it does improve the overall look of the bottle.

The “Solera Reserve” line from Glenfiddich is a little different than your standard single malt, in fact it would be more accurate to call it a “blended single malt”. While that may sound like an oxymoron, it technically isn’t. A “Blended Whisky” is a combination of malt whisky (barley only) AND grain whisky (wheat or corn) to smooth out the malt whisky and create a less complex, less harsh whisky. In this case, Glenfiddich is combining multiple batches of malt whisky from a variety of casks to create a “vatted” whisky. Some of the whisky is aged for fifteen years in: traditional American bourbon, Spanish sherry, and new oak casks and then combined in a large solera vat made of pine.

The interesting thing about using soleras to age any spirit is that it is always kept half full. This makes it difficult to establish the actual age of the liquid that goes in to the bottle, but if the process is well controlled, as I suspect Glenfiddich’s is, a minimum age can be established. As whisky is moved into the solera after a set number of years of cask aging than you can readily state that the whisky is a minimum of ‘X’ years old. Reality, however, may put the average age of the whisky inside the solera at eighteen or twenty years old. It is a truly fascinating approach, but does it really make a difference?

Color

The color is a little lighter than some of the other scotches I have reviewed recently, but not by much. Instead of a deep amber hue, the shade is a little closer to gold.

Nose

The nose of this particular whisky is fantastic with overtones of vanilla and honey and a bit of spice and fruit.

Taste

This scotch is smooth, really smooth. It has a soft, creamy flavor that is mild and accessible. I can’t say that I could pick out flavors indicative of one cask or another, just that it seems well balanced without any one cask running roughshod over the others.

Finish

The finish brings out a little more of the cask flavors with the sherry adding a little sweetness and the oak adding that woody dryness you find in most traditional single malts. It is quite pleasant.

Summary

Glenfiddich Solera Reserve may have just knocked off The Balvenie DoubleWood as the most accessible scotch I have reviewed to date. It is smooth, has a good mild flavor, and quite drinkable. At a price under $40.00, its a good starter scotch for someone taking their first few steps in to the wonderful world of single malts.

Personal Note

I learned an awful lot about whisky while researching the methods and practices used to create this whisky and the knowledge gained from this one review far outweighs the enjoyment of the spirit contained within the bottle. While this particular post was rather long and full of information NOT related specifically to how this bottle of scotch tastes, smells, or looks; it is for this very reason that I started OakandSmoke.com in the first place. To chronicle the journey from complete novice to who knows where. I only hope that you feel like you’ve learned something too.

Another thing I discovered while conducting research for this article is that I have been pronouncing the name “Glenfiddich” incorrectly for years. The final syllable (ich) is not pronounced like “itch”, but “ick”. It has a hard ch as in the Scottish loch. Thanks to Wikipedia, I’ll actually sound like I know what I’m talking about now.