SMWS 4.209 - The Cinderella Cottage

The SMWS bottling marked 4.209 and titled "The Cinderella Cottage" was shared with us in the Maltstock master class by John McCheyne, of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. An 19 year old whisky distilled at Highland Park on 30 Nov 1995 and matured in a refill hogshead. Bottled at 54,5%
and in total 251 bottles produced. SMWS tells us the following off this bottle of whisky:

Our travellers arrived at the chilly coastal cottage, it had been lying empty with damp plaster walls and sea salt encrusted windows. Old cinders lay in the grate so the weary crew lit the fire with heather and peat. They speared sausages with rosemary sticks and grilled them, skin splitting, on the open flames with green tomatoes. From their provisions they cobbled together a makeshift feast of prawn crackers, dimsum and tempura shrimps with sesame seeds. They baked apples in the embers,crispy skinned, and finished their pudding with dough balls. Warm and fed - what a transformation! Drinking Tip - Friday night session dram in a cold climate(or cold climate dram)

It is definitely not a typical Highland Park and when after tasting and nosing it adding some water it completely dissipated. On the nose it has some light smoky notes mixed with heather. Fresh notes of pink grapefruit and pomolo come to the front and after some time the nose opens up more and reveals sweeter fruit notes. On the palate I find notes much like the nose, the light heather and soft smoke notes, but now mixed with red fruits, red apple, banana and custard. Medium length sweet finish, scoring me an 7,5 out of 10 for this quick nosing and tasting at the festival.