Highland Park 17 Year (2003), Single Cask Nation “Stones of Stenness”
Whisky: Highland Park 17 Year (2003), Single Cask Nation “Stones of Stenness”
Country/Region: Scotland/Islands
ABV: 54.4%
Cask: Second Fill Oloroso Butt
Age: 17 Year (Distilled Nov. 2003, Bottled May 2021)
Nose: Maritime, fruit, and diesel. Green banana and dried kelp came to mind before burnt matches, phosphate gravel, and wet leather took hold. Dried cherries, dates, and crystalized ginger mixed with subtle notes of sulfur, dirty shop rags, and diesel.
Palate: Medium-bodied with notes of dried berries, diesel, and leather. Sherry funk ran throughout this dram with notes of wet leather, burnt matches, guano dust, shoe polish, shop rags, sulfur, and diesel. Hints of the sea and dried berries were largely overcome by memories of a smoke-belching motor boat engine and oil-stained rags.
Finish: Lingering notes of oil rags and leather.
Score: 2
Mental Image: Austral Guano Company: Walpole Outpost
Notes: When French geographer Aubert de la Rüe decided it would be fun to force his wife to join him on a brief venture out to Walpole Island in 1935 to visit the island phosphate mine, I assume she probably thought he was crazy. In his notes, he described an island perpetually shrouded with a cloud of foul-smelling dust as miners hacked away in shallow pits atop the towering island cliffs. De la Rüe stayed for a day, but the airborne dust and its foul taste, which lingered in his mouth and on his clothes, made quite the impression. So did the spiders... but that’s a story for another time. I felt that this dram surely encapsulated a hint of de la Ruë’s experience.
I think seventeen years is about the perfect age for Highland Park, and I have had some good sherried drams from the distillery, so I was excited to try this. It checked many boxes, especially after the cracking good other SCN “Stones of Stenness” I reviewed recently. Sadly, I did not enjoy this at all. It reminded me of a 12 Year Bowmore from Exclusive Malts, also matured in a second-fill cask and equally as dirty with a hard diesel edge. I had the opportunity (or misfortune) to try a fresh bottle of that Bowmore recently and found it still absolutely inundated with diesel funk, so perhaps that was why I had it on my mind.
I assume some people like this dirty kind of sherry flavor profile, and some of them must be attached to Single Cask Nation. However, it was not for me. The cask overwhelmed the experience, and the subtle fruit and maritime notes of Highland Park seemed lost under a pile of dirty shop rags and wet leather.
