Highland Park 15yrs - Ex-bourbon cask use

[Novice Scotch Fan]

I have noticed that the 12 and 18yrs have more sherried flavor than the 15. I have read online that that the spirit of the 15 is aged 50% of the time in ex-bourbon casks and the other half in ex-sherry casks. Anybody know this to be true?

[jhershauer]

All of the HP OB expressions are matured 100% in sherry casks. However, they DO make use of a combination of American oak and Spanish oak casks. The 15 year uses more American oak in the mix than the 12 or 18. They also vary the percentage of first fill casks between expressions.

The only specifics I could find on the 15 year are that it is matured in 30% first fill casks, vs 20% for the 12 year, and that there is a "higher proportion" of American oak casks.

I put the info I was able to find into this blog post a while back.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Novice Scotch Fan]

Thanks! Matter of fact, I emailed Gerry Tosh at Highland Park and he emailed me a reply advising that no ex-bourbon casks are used in the production of HP15.

I was researching HP 15 and on the web a couple of sites made the claim that it was 50% aged in ex-bourbon casks. On the palate I detect vanilla and other traits I associate with bourbon, so I thought I would check with the HP people themselves before publishing incorrect info on my blog. In any case Tosh said no bourbon casks whatsoever.

I am in a miniority but I prefer the 15 to the 12 and 18.

thanks again