Highland Park 1988 Lunar Bottling 18 3/5 Year Old

Highland Park was built by David Robertson all the way back in 1798. The distillery's relationship with blenders, Robertson & Baxter, saw it acquired by Highland Distillers in 1937, who were subsequently bought by Edrington in 1999, who run it today. The modern Highland Park single malt brand was first officially bottled in the 1970s, with the release of an 8 year old age statement, but distillery bottlings first appeared around the 1950s. The look of the brand has changed many times over the years, but its cult following and popularity has never diminished. It remains one of the most recognisable single malts in the world to this day.

This is a 1988 vintage Highland Park which was matured for precisely 18 3/5 years and limited to only 500 bottles.

With their standard 18 year old expression being dubbed 'The Best Spirit in the World' by F. Paul Pacult in 2005, this release is said to be the same whisky but turned up a notch. A greater proportion of sherry oak casks were used in maturation and it was bottled at a slightly higher strength.

The bottling celebrates the completion of the Moon's full cycle, which only happens every 18 3/5 years, and is best observed from Orkney's Ring of Brodgar.