Highland Park 1995 Carn Mor Sherry [Road to #1000, Review #976]

Hi everyone,

We continue towards 1000 reviews with a great Highland park from a Sherry cask. I’m not certain why HP does so well with Sherry but perhaps it’s because of the heavier style of the spirit combined with light peat smoke, similar to Springbank. Also, we must remember that the stablemalts include Glenrothes and Macallan which also do well in Sherry.

Anyway, this is a release from Carn Mor and would have been quite expensive on release but then, this is better than the last batch of the 30yo OB I tried so there’s that.

Highland Park 1995 Carn Mor 54%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Real fuckin' good! A proper good Sherry cask, clove, cinnamon, no end to the dried fruit- raisin, prune, date, walnut, thick plum sauce on crispy duck! Really rich, a dram to lose yourself in! Singed heather, unami soy sauce, roasted goose leg but sweeter moments of chocolate orange and Kirsch.

Taste: Soft and sweet, building Sherry, dry and sweet, smoke and layers of sweet dried fruit, raisin and prune, sweet orange and singed heather, leather, tobacco and dark chocolate. Wonderfully balanced.

Finish: Long length. Sweet and mouth watering. More orange, dry oak, then chocolate and some heather, malt. Lovely.

Bottled 2018 at 22yo but could easily be 25 or more. Very complex and well timed release. Stunning.

87/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #819

Whisky Network Review #976

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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