Highland Park Distillery, Scotland     founded: 1798 | active
For more detailed mapping of the distilleries in the area from our whisky map page, use this link.

This appears to be one of those occasions where we'd got a bit north of tipsy, true to our motto. It started off ok: Christmas and firecrackers, a meadow, cherries and quite overwhelming (in a good way). It was still aligned with normality when strawberry Starburst and buttery were observed (or obnosed), but then we got a bit abstract: an isolated pond, 'quite sorry like campers' (?), a man peeing on a night out ("Sheila 2014") and deep-fried pig rectum (!).. the aroma length was described as 'quick like a billabong' (although Giles meant to say wallaby) and there were smells of butterscotch banana fritters from Bonsai (a Japanese restaurant in Edinburgh). Finally, it was just about standardly-noted to be like a Hawaiian beach party.

There was a bit of fruit - apples and pairs - and distilled marzipan, candied pecans and heather. Sour and sting-y, and a little smokey, and it took chocolate nicely. Lotus biscuits with coffee, marinated beach braai and sea air between sand dunes ("taste the salt water on your lips!"). Autumnal berries and hedgerows, an actual coal fire and like the most delicious sweets ever. "It takes so much water!", hard like a raging billabong (not wallaby this time), "can't taste anything anymore", "totally fucked"..

Oh dear... we'd capitulated by this point. Snuggling under a duvet with an electric blanket on and you're totally doing it. "down under" (Sheila), "overly worn!" (Liz) and warm outside with a really good barbie and you've had too many Fosters - Sheila's been enduring it all evening :) Licorice, blackberiies and Granny Smith apples took us back to the script, but "having friction whilst making woopee?" and "try fuck lube!" took us right back to the lowest level. In terms of a length-flavour combo, we went for "a long time (~20 mins) after a pickled onion (yeah, nice oniony-ness)".

~£91 (70cl)

SMWS 4.191 - A Romp in the Heather   |   http://www.smws.co.uk/new-outturn/4.191_A_Rom

We've always scored out of 10 in our group (see number in red box, below), with scores regularly given across that spectrum. The value out of 100 below is adjusted to the scale most commonly used for whisky reviews, to allow for better comparison.

92 / 100