Highland Park 23yo 1978 / 2001 SMWS 4.83 58%

Highland Park 23yo 1978 / 2001 SMWS 4.83 58%

One of the most peaty yet also most simple Highland Parks I’ve come across. The formula goes like this, focus on what you’ve got but turn it all up to eleven. Gallons of petrol and tons of salt, lime zest, iron from a cut lip, mud, acrid smoke and freshly turned wet earth full of broken root and plant matter in various stages of decay.  Especially salty and zesty on the tongue. Even Islay peat mellows after 20 years but this? This was rather brutal the first half of the bottle and then it settled on being just extreme. What was going on in the late 70s in Orkney? 91 pts but could understandably be 71 pts to someone else. Polarizing’s the word.