Highland Park Scotch Declared Best Spirit in the World

By Darryl Beeson

Highland Park, located on Orkney off the north coast of Scotland where it has produced fine Scotch for more than two centuries, debuted Single Cask No.443 recently at the Whiskey Live event in New York. The spirit, selected by and bottled exclusively for Whisky Magazine and Park Avenue Liquor Shop, was declared "The Best Spirit in the World," by spirit authority F. Paul Pacult.

The 23-year-old whisky was selected from the distillery's reserved collection of single casks by Whisky Magazine Founder and Publisher, Damian Riley-Smith and Park Avenue Liquor Shop Vice President, Jonathan Goldstein. In 2005, Riley-Smith and Goldstein met with Highland Park distillery representatives to nose and taste a selection of Highland Park casks to find one that would be bottled exclusively for Whisky Live New York before making it available exclusively at Park Avenue Liquor Shop. They chose Highland Park Single Cask No. 443, which was originally distilled in 1982.

Highland Park, lauded for its highly acclaimed 12-, 15-, 18-, 25- and 30-year old range of single malt whiskies, offers a selection of exclusive Single Casks, bottled from recently discovered casks that survived the tests of Orkney's uncompromising environment and showed exceptional character and maturity. Using its traditional floor-malting method to malt its own barley and drying the ‘green’ malt with peat cut from the Orkney's moorland, Highland Park ages its malt whisky in individual casks, which impart flavors specific to each cask.

Tasting notes for Highland Park Single Cask No. 443: The color is rich amber. The nose is complex with their trademark honey sweetness and then hints of beeswax and polished wood, sherried wine and faded spicy incense smoke. The palate is packed with chewy toffee and honey up front, then dark chocolate orange, and finally smoke, nuts and wood. The finish is long and elegant with the woodiness reflecting the whisky's age. Alc./Vol.: 57.9%.

With only 470 bottles produced, Highland Park Single Cask No. 443 retails for $200 for a 750ml bottle. It can be purchased at Park Avenue Liquor Shop, 292 Madison Avenue, New York, by calling (212) 685-2442 or visiting www.parkaveliquor.com.

Darryl Beeson admires greatness, along with value, from all things travel, food, wine or even the elixir spirits. He is American editor of www.wineontheweb.com.

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