Highland Park 1978 Vintage Collection Global Travel Retail 47.8% 1978

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (90)

Colour: gold.

Nose: a completely different planet. This one hints more at the old glories, with all these precious honeys, the mild smoke, the touches of metal polish, the hints of fruitcake and the lovely combination of cigar smoke and cedar wood. Wonderful phenols and waxes. We're really talking now.

Mouth: indeed. High quality HP, phenolic, medicinal, with many precious woods and spices mingled with ripe fruits and herbal teas as well as a little menthol. Prefect body this time. I especially like the notes of mango cake and honeydew, as well as the touches of bitter oranges that never stop growing.

Finish: quite long this time and rather spicy. Cardamom and pepper, oranges again, maybe one or two slices of tinned pineapples... A little salt playing with your lips after you've swallowed it all.

Comments: this one really delivered. The finish is rather spicier than other oldies - because there's probably quite some old HP in the mix - but the fruits remain fresh and vivid. The joys of multi-decade vatting, I suppose.