Young Tamdhu in wine vs old Tamdhu al natural


February 25, 2026

A new Highland Park craze, part dos

After all, no one can make do with just seven HPs, can they?

Château Chizay, Transcarpathia, Ukraine (Château Chizay)

Orkney (HP) 14 yo 2010/2024 ‘Edition #30’ (57.1%, Signatory Vintage, 100 Proof, 1st fill oloroso sherry butt)

At 50€, this may well be a serious contender for the title of best Bang-For-Your-Buck of the month on Whiskyfun. I would add that the definition of ‘100 proof’ does not seem entirely precise to us, as we have seen plenty at 57%, at 57.1% as here, but also at 56.9%, as with Giaccone a few decades ago. Might we obtain a firm and definitive opinion from the British Crown? Colour: deep gold. Nose: walnut liqueur, bitter orange liqueur, sweet pepper, paraffin oil, lapsang souchong, roasted chestnuts. And there we are. With water: it does not move a millimetre. Perhaps a few dried flowers? Mouth (neat): perfect lemon honey, pepper liqueur, ras el hanout, fresh turmeric, wasabi and marmalade. With water: despite being first fill, this is no sherry monster that would have absorbed, indeed erased, all the HP markers. Including the famous heather honey, but also the shellfish. Finish: long and distinctly spicier. Ginger and turmeric rather lay down the law, yet the saline touches in the aftertaste are perfect. Black pepper too. Comments: superb young HP, slightly rustic but in these times, is the future not in the meadows and the fields?
SGP:562 - 86 points.

Old Orkney 19 yo (52%, Decadent Drinks, refill hogsheads married in 3rd fill butt, 375 bottles, 2025)

What troubles us slightly here is that we know, by hearsay, that this little OO is excellent. Colour: gold. Nose: yes, of course, the fatty sharpness, if you see what we mean, of the distillate is there from the very first sniffs, with, to put it briefly, an obvious kinship with Clynelish, early 1980s style. Waxes and citrus peels. With water: a notable emergence of virgin wool, chalk and cement. Mouth (neat): forget it, it is simply magnificent. White pepper, citrons, oysters, horseradish, pistachio oil… And what is more, it wakes you up, should you ever have needed it. With water: the little waxes, candle, pollens, mandarins… Finish: of good length, yet without any marked change, it has already told us what it had to say. A very, very slight toothpaste side. Comments: pointless. It is our favourite style of malt.
SGP:561 - 90 points.

Whitlaw 2003/2025 (46.6%, The Whisky Jury, refill hogshead, cask #981, 268 bottles)

Colour: deep gold. Nose: sublime, right on the magical path that runs from Orkney to Campbeltown. You know, HP-Cly-BR-BN-Spr. Paraffin, banana liqueur, custard, sesame oil, beeswax, pollen, apricots and quinces. It is a profile that would suit a great rum, or a cognac, perfectly. Since when have they been cultivating folle blanche on Orkney? Mouth: if our friends at the Jury have bottled an HP here rather than a mid-1990s Ben Nevis, of which they are great specialists, it may be because it rather fiercely resembles a mid-1990s Ben Nevis. Finish: same comments, word for word, it is almost unsettling. Are we dreaming? Comments: to be honest, it is rather brutal, even at 46.6%. Yet a few drops of Vittel (cheque from Nestlé unlikely ever to arrive) will reveal even more resemblance to a BN 1996, for example. We have just tasted a good dozen of them, if not more. Granted, it is a little softer. We mean, this HP.
SGP:562 - 90 points.

Pride of Orkney 12 yo (57%, Gordon & MacPhail, twist cap, 1980s)

Adorable label with a small engraving of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. To us, the label forms an integral part of a whisky, it is sometimes a promise, sometimes a threat, yet it always carries great importance, whatever the wretched street drinkers of the forums may say. Obviously, one is left to wonder whether Pride of Orkney was HP or Scapa, given that even bound hand and foot and forced to listen to a complete speech by DJT, thus the most vicious form of torture, the charming people at G&M would never, ever spill the beans. Colour: deep gold. Nose: so much honey allied to such gentle minerality and such a maritime edge could hardly mislead us. With water: as very often, once diluted, G&M malts become as cloudy as the aforementioned speeches of poor DJT. Superb little herbal infusions, mint, lime blossom, thyme, wormwood… Mouth (neat): magnificent lemons, angelica, peppermint and honeys. A superb creature, clean-lined, neither complicated nor complex, simply perfect. With water: richness, herbal infusions, mandarins, earth and salted seaweed. It is still very, very ‘HP’. Finish: same again. Comments: those 100 proof were really something. ‘Pride’, indeed.
SGP:562 - 90 points.

Right then, let’s try handing over to the proprietors…

Highland Park 33 yo 1974/2009 (44.8%, OB, The Ambassador’s Cask #3, cask #9035, 372 bottles)

They were half-bottles, actually. Well then, we know it is going to be very good, so this is purely for the glory… Colour: full gold. Nose: varnishes and glues, quinces, almond milk, acacia and chestnut blossom, green melons, multiflower pollen, rice pudding, double-cream milk chocolate and whatnot from Rodolphe Lindt… But how beautiful this is! Bravo Mr Ambassador, bravo Martin, you are the brand, at 100%. Mouth: oh the little honeys and the little flower and citrus jellies, all of it of a quite mad simplicity and elegance. There is of course, behind all that, a whole procession of secondary and tertiary flavours, including a superb minerality, yet in a moment of empathy and kindness almost incongruous in these times, we shall refrain from listing them now and here. Finish: not so long perhaps, yet of just perfect elegance and breeding. Medicinal touches. Comments: I have just noticed that we had already tasted this baby in May 2008. Re-reading my notes, it had been a little more cheerful, let us say, yet at a wholly equivalent level. We like to calibrate ourselves from time to time, generally by chance, for if one wishes to remain consistent, it is of course important. In any case, a superb HP from the greater years.
SGP:652 - 92 points.

And now, let us also commemorate the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine and celebrate the resilience of the Ukrainian people!

Orkney Island Distillery 25 yo 1999/2025 (51.5%, Scotch88 & Scyfion, Ukrainian Troyanda Karpat Barrique from Château Chizay, cask #Z20/07061, 187 bottles)

This baby was first matured by Berry Bros. in a bourbon hogshead, then in some sweet Ukrainian white wine made from ‘pink traminer’, not entirely sure whether that might in fact be gewurztraminer. Ukraine? 99 points! Quite. Colour: it is actually rather pink, which may suggest macerated traminer, though we are not entirely certain. Nose: very pretty peppers, raisins, goji berries, mosses, peonies, strawberry white chocolate, rosehips, then increasingly Orkneyish notes, mineral and waxy, if not yet saline. With water: much more on the distillate, even lemon, chalk, oyster shells, with touches of lovage. Mouth (neat): well, it withstands the sublime 1974 remarkably well, much as the Ukrainians withstand the poor hordes of V.P.. Pink peppercorns, grey pepper, blood oranges, cough syrup, herbal syrups, leeks… With water: sweetness holds the reins this time, while candied ginger makes an appearance. Finish: long and more bitter, also more saline, while the peppers, mints and dried fruits sign off the whole. A touch of fudge. Comments: it is truly different yet very, very good, quite independently of the context. And I find it splendid that our Ukrainian friends continue to make this kind of selection and finishing, that too is a graceful two fingers to the barbarians. Slava Ukraini!
SGP:661 - 90 points.

More HP right tomorrow, stay tuned...

Check the index of all Highland Park we've tasted