Highland Park Full Volume Scotch Review

By Emma Briones

Rating: B

Highland Park has recently revamped their core range. Along with the launch of their new look and the discontinuance of Dark Origins, the Orkney distillery has released a new expression that may be a little bit different from what we are used to: Highland Park Full Volume.

Breaking with the usual Viking theme with this new edition, Highland Park wants to showcase the abilities of Gordon Motion, the distillery’s Master Whisky Maker. To do so, they have chosen a music parallelism. For any musician that plays electric, both amplifiers and equalizers are key to keep the perfect balance in the final mix. To get this perfect balance, it is necessary to fine tune the different musical frequencies to achieve the final harmony.

According to Highland Park, a Master Whisky Maker does a similar job. It is Gordon Motion’s job to blend the flavor waves to achieve the spirit final harmony.

Highland Park Full Volume’s box and bottle have been designed to contribute to the music parallelism. The bottle is completely black with a silver label. The box represents two amplifiers and on the side of the box, there are dials that represent the levels of each flavor in the whisky. The name of the whisky, both in the bottle and the box, uses a font that is quite similar to the one used in Marshall amplifiers.

Highland Park Full Volume has been matured only in bourbon barrels, something unusual in a distillery distinguished for its use of Sherry casks. The spirit was distilled in 1999 and bottled in 2017. To create the final blend of this single malt, Highland Park has used 481 barrels. The whisky has been chill-filtered at 4ºC and has been bottled at 47.2% volume (94.4º proof).

The Scotch
In the glass, the whisky is pale gold with long tears. On the nose, Highland Park Full Volume starts smooth and discreet. There are some soft and mellow vanilla and barley notes, mixed with some floral notes and a fruity touch. It is quite citric, with lemon and pineapple notes. Towards the end, there are some sweet caramel notes and some hints of peat and toasted oak.

On the palate, it is sweet and rich. With a full body, Highland Park Full Volume has some sweet and fruity notes. There is a mellow touch of vanilla and caramel that slowly blend with a citric touch. It highlights notes of caramelized lemon and soft banana. Finally, a hint of cinnamon that melts into smooth toasted oak notes and a light touch of smoke.

The finish is lengthy. The fruitier side of the dram lingers on the palate, with a dry touch of toasted oak and a slight peat memory.

Highland Park Full Volume really is something different from what we can usually expect of the Orkney distillery and it is really nice to see a different profile. It has a wonderful balance and a lovely mix of citric and smoke that surely will not disappoint you.

The Price
Highland Park Full Volume is only officially available in the United States. It is retailed at $110.