Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

17-Year-Old Highland Park Single Malt Scotch Whisky Review

Sam Slaughter
By
highland park the light scotch whisky
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Back in March, we wrote about the first of two special-edition whiskies that were to be released by Scotch whisky company Highland Park in 2018: The Dark, a 17-year-old single malt whiskey aged exclusively in first-fill European oak sherry casks and meant to represent the cold, long autumn and winter seasons on the Orkney Islands. Now that the colder months are (thankfully) behind us, Highland Park has introduced the second in the series: The Light. 

The Light is a 17-year-old single malt Scotch whisky (just like The Dark) created to represent the spring and summer on Orkney. (Summer days, for those that want a fun fact to break out when opening your very own bottle of The Light, last for 20 hours on Orkney. If you need a second fun fact, you can drop the truth bomb that temperatures generally stay between 60 degrees and 35 degrees Fahrenheit — not too summery, but when the average winter high is around 44 degrees, 60 degrees seems practically sweltering.)

Highland Park Whisky THE LIGHT 17 Year Old (Tasting Notes)

Aged entirely in refill American oak casks, The Light has no color added, giving it a light golden hue. On the nose, you’ll find apples and pears mixing with a little bit of oak and a very subtle layer of peat smoke. The fruitiness continues on the palate, with more orchard fruits coming through, this time with vanilla and caramel rounding out the profile. While it is somewhat light and summery, it is still not something to be taken lightly — The Light is 52.9 percent ABV and has some strong pepper and oak notes on the palate to match the light fruit flavors. The finish isn’t quite as long as an Orkney summer day, but it’s close.

Related

As we guessed, not only is the whisky a contrast to The Dark, but so is the bottle — the pale green(ish) glass is a stark (and aesthetically-pleasing) antithesis to the black bottle of the first whisky in the series.

Recommended Videos

Highland Park The Light retails for around $300 and can be found online here. If it sounds like a bottle you need to pick up, you’ll want to hurry — only 4,500 bottles were shipped to the United States.

Editors' Recommendations

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
Chivas Releases Extra 13 Collection Scotch Whiskies
Whiskey in a glass

It appears that the new Scotch Whisky Association rules allowing Scotch to be finished in a larger variety of cask types has been a welcome boon to the industry, which has been taking advantage of this new way to innovate. Just last month, Dewar's launched Ilegal Smooth, an eight-year-old blended whisky finished in Ilegal Mezcal casks.

And now Chivas, owned by drinks company Pernod Ricard, has followed suit with its Chivas Extra 13 collection, a series of 13-year-old blends that are finished in different types of barrels. The new lineup consists of the following expressions: Chivas Extra 13 Oloroso Sherry Cask, Chivas Extra 13 Rum Cask, Chivas Extra 13 American Rye Cask, and Chivas Extra 13 Tequila Cask.

Read more
Dewar’s Launches New Scotch Finished in Mezcal Casks
dewars ilegal smooth mezcal barrel aged scotch

Dewar's has long touted the fact that its whisky is "double aged." This means that, after initial maturation, the whisky is blended and then goes back into barrels again for about six months to allow the flavors to marry. But recently the storied brand has been trying out some additional maturation processes. Last fall, Dewar's launched a cask-finished expression of its whisky called Caribbean Smooth, an eight-year-old blend that was finished in rum barrels (which are at the ready in large supplies, considering the brand is owned by Bacardi). Next month, a new cask-finished blend will hit shelves called Ilegal Smooth.

This time, the eight-year-old blend is finished in Ilegal Mezcal casks (Bacardi owns a minority stake in Ilegal). While you might assume this would bring a great deal of smoke to the palate, it's really only a wisp that curls around other flavors like caramel, butterscotch, and bright citrus. Overall, this is a nice sipping whisky that would also work quite well in a simple drink like a highball.

Read more
Here’s to the New Year: 20-Year-Old Whiskies to Drink in 2022
Whiskey in a glass

2020 is barely a month old, so it's a good time to consider some 20-year-old whiskies to drink in this first year of the new decade. Of course, many of these happen to be single malt Scotch, and for good reason. In general, you can age a whiskey for much longer in the temperate climate of Scotland than you could in Kentucky, with its extreme seasonal temperature swings, and still have it come out tasting good. This is because hot summers and cold winters force the liquid to interact with the barrel more, resulting in a whiskey that may become overly oaky and tannic over time. For this reason, most Kentucky bourbon is released below the 10-year mark, while the benchmark age for single malt is usually 10 to 12 years. There are some exceptions, of course, and these can be quite good if appropriate attention is paid to the barrels as they age. Here are ten whiskeys aged for two decades to try now -- provided you can find and afford them. (As a general note, the age statement refers to the youngest whiskey in the bottle, so there may be older liquid included as well).
Deanston 20 Year Old Oloroso

Deanston is a sometimes overlooked Highlands distillery that has an excellent range of single malts, including some organic expressions and this limited release 20YO. The whisky was matured in Oloroso sherry casks for two decades, and bottled at cask strength without color added or chill-filtration. There are notes of dried fruit and vanilla on the palate, followed by a hint of baking spice and prune.
BenRiach 20

Read more