Highland Park 25 yo 48.1% vs Highland Park 30 yo 48.1%

Well, both of these malts are quite legendary and sort of Holy Grail for me. Would be that be interesting to make them sing together?.. 

Highland Park... Part of Edrington group and strange thing for me at the moment is much higher pricing of comparable Macallan malts than the Highland Park ones... I haven't said anything, ok? :)

Highland Park 25 yo 48.1% - official 25 yo edition being bottled at this strength from 2006 till 2012. In this expression they use the highest ratio of first fill sherry casks of all the standard assortment - 50%. In 30 yo this figure goes down a bit to keep the balance between sweetness and smoke. Below you will see all standard HP malts on a so called Magnus Eunson tour, 25 yo, 30 yo and 40 yo are almost similar in colour despite difference in age. 

from left to right: 12, 15, 18, 21, 25, 30 and 40 yo

Nose: mellow and elegant. Apples stewed in honey. Vanilla. Grapes. Sea. Chocolate. Oak. Some mint also. Everything is wonderfully integrated, the nose is changing while you smell it, later on some smoked pear and fruit firewood appear. 

Taste: honey, spices and oak are dancing together.

Finish: eternally long, vibrant, peppery, spicy, salty and dry. Some chocolate also. Gerry Tosh says: "... make a sip, the front of your tongue should go on fire. Then your lips might tingle. You might even lose feeling in your fingers and toes :) don't worry, bear with it, fight with it, when this tingling sensation begins to subside your mough will dry and will stay dry for a very long time... and after a good minute your mouth will naturally recover getting moisture back".

Overall: great complex malt. Perhaps my favourite of HP as I can't afford drinking 40 yo often :) Though I should buy a bottle again... Want to compare 2 versions of 25 yo: new one bottled at 45.7% and this one.

Score: 24 23 23.5 23.5, 94/100!

Highland Park 30 yo 48.1% - official 30 yo of the same strength which was also reduced in 2013. Short video from Gerry Tosh again.

Nose: more subtle than 25 yo. Oranges, spices, vanilla and honey. 

Taste: oranges and oak. Lightest smoke and chocolate. Damn drinkable. 

Finish: long and mouthwatering on honey, spices and oak. 

Overall: being quite similar to 25 yo in terms of profile (in both cases we've got plenty of heather honey, spices, chocolate, oak and light smoke) it differs from it a lot. 25 yo is wilder and more expressive, 30 yo is more ... easygoing. Not simple at all, don't get me wrong. If you're new to Highland Park malts, I'd recommend to start with 30 yo, it's brilliant. For an experienced whisky taster 25 yo should be a strike. 

Score: 24 23 23 23, 93/100!