It was like the old days. Gerry Tosh, a selection of great drams, and Glasgow’s Whisky Club. It’s been a while since we had a Highland Park tasting, but Gerry certainly didn’t disappoint at the June tasting at the Bon Accord.
It was also the night we got to taste our special bottle of the 1977 Bicentenary, bought by the club – one of only 694 bottles, which were rescued from a Japanese warehouse. They were discovered after Highland Park changed distributors, brought back to Scotland and repackaged. Retail price was £250 and there are a few left.
Gerry brought us up to date with the latest news from Orkney before turning to our tasting. We started with the 12 year old, a standard dram that would be hard to beat at any distillery.
We followed that with a 1997 duty free bottling which had a bigger proportion of American oak through it.
On to the absolute classic 18 year old, twice hailed as the best spirit in the world, then on to our Bicentenary bottling. A bit smokier than normal offerings, it made a lasting impression.
As did the last bottle of the evening – the legendary 40 year old, retailing at a cool grand a bottle. It was everything you’d expect, a smooth classic from the HP stable.
Gerry hung around after the tasting and was quizzed by members on wood policy, the use of caramel, some interesting ‘experiments’ in cask management and many other topics.
As usual Gerry was unfailingly polite, engaging and showed his tru passion for his whiskies.
