Highland Park Twisted Tattoo
16 years old
46.7%
Aged in a mix of ex-Bourbon 1st fill barrels (70) and ex-Rioja Spanish wine casks (153)
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Okay by now if you don’t know about Highland Park, well, you can read about it here, here, and there (and there too) !
Allright so Highland Park Twisted Tattoo. Another release, another marketing stunt from the distillery. Why Tattoo ? Well, because HP has been featuring work from different artists, and mostly #VikingSoul artists. After working with designer Jim Lyngvild and F1 driver David Coulthard, they teamed up with Danish tattoo artist Colin Dale. He does, of course, viking inspired tattoos, so it makes sense that they’d partnered up !
I’ve already read a lot of complain about the too intense marketing behind all the latest release from HP. I get it. It’s a lot. And they do go all out with the whole vikings roots. But let’s get serious. Vikings. Shit they are nice ! Their whole regular line bottle design was dumb I thought…until I had one in hand and I thought it wasn’t that bad. Marketing is marketing. And marketing can’t get your product better. So at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself a question : is the whisky good enough ?
In this case…well read the review below !
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Color : saffron.
Nose : very subtle peat, black grapes, candied red fruits, freshly toasted oak.
Palate : he Orcades peat is gaining strength and mixing with candied citrus fruits, strawberry jam, prunes and coconut.
The first wave is delicate and sweet. The second is spicy with dill, leather and chewing tobacco.
Finish : full of peat, slightly tannic and with tobacco. Dry, short, but with a lot of power.
Comments : From what I know, this is one of the first bottles to arrive in Canada 😎 (thanks Kendra – @canadiangirl_abroad)
I do not know much about Rioja wines. I drank only one or two (unfortunately, as wine critics are raving about many of them). In short, all that to say that I’m not sure what brings Rioja casks aging exactly. But this is not my first whisky aged in red wine barrels 😎
Imagine the Full Volume. But more fleshy, more aggressive. Except that this aggressiveness is wrapped in 16oz boxing gloves…so less chances of getting a broken jaw ! We are halfway between an exclusive aging in Bourbon barrels such as Full Volume or Freya and a classic HP matured in sherry casks.
I bet people will complain that this is, again, a high marketing hack. What does tattoos have to do with HP anyway, right ? But it really doesn’t matter. This is an age stated whisky. This is good. This is not overpriced. This is not too limited, yet it’s a one shot deal (remember Dark Origins and Full Volume ?). At the end of the day, just drink the goddamn whisky and stop complaining about the marketing !
For me, this is a successful golden juice from Highland Park. Bravo 🙌🏻
