Highland Park Launches 50 Year Old 2020 Release

Highland Park Launches 50 Year Old 2020 Release

The 2020 release of Highland Park 50 Year Old has been announced and is just the third release of a 50 year old whisky in the distillery’s 223 year history.

To create the 2020 release of Highland Park 50 Year Old, Master Whisky Maker Gordon Motion selected nine refill casks first laid down in 1968 and married them together in 2008. These casks were then re-racked into first-fill sherry seasoned oak casks and left to mature for an additional 12 years. In 2020, he selected just one European oak butt, and, using the solera process, married it with some of the 2018 release of Highland Park 50 Year Old, which itself had been married with the 2010 release of Highland Park 50 Year Old.

Bottled of natural color at 43.8% ABV, the 2020 release of Highland Park 50 Year Old is described as having aromas of “ripe black cherries, sweet Muscovado sugar, peaches and rich dark chocolate, conveyed on a whisper of new leather and soft peat smoke.” On the palate, “a complex and vibrant intensity of flavours follows with exotic spices, candied orange peel, toasted oak and ripe apricots delivering a deliciously rich yet fragrant sweetness.” It finishes with “dry spices and the impression of dark espresso coffee, enrobed in aromatic peat smoke.”