A cult bottle – this is said to be one of the best Highland Park bottlings ever. It was released in 2006 as an exclusive bottling for Binny’s Beverage Depot in Chicago.
This is the Highland Park 1971 cask #8363. Around the same time Binny’s also sold a 1973 cask #13308.
Highland Park 34 yo 1971
(53%, OB for Binny’s Chicago 2006, first-fill sherry butt #8363)
Nose: actually quite close to a real, highly aromatic Oloroso sherry. Juicy red plums, sultanas and truckloads of preserved cherries and Ginjinha. Apricot jam too. Polished oak. Hints of rosewater, perhaps a touch of flowers. Very juicy and fragrant indeed. Then some molasses and pipe tobacco, leather and mocha. Hints of smoke underneath.
Mouth: same story, heavy sherry bordering on cough syrup. Rum and raisins, baked bananas, herbs, crushed mint leaves and camphor. Cherries and dried figs. Some coconut and tobacco. Slowly moving towards resinous notes. Exceptional, though a bit on the dry side and less wide than the nose.
Finish: long, herbal, with the expected cocoa. Still some of the cherry notes though.
As good as it gets after 34 years in a first-fill sherry butt. Highly complex and balanced. The last time I saw one at an auction it fetched around € 1200. Thanks, Luc.
Score: 94/100