Highland Park 21 Year Old ABV Reduced

[William]

The abv of Highland Park 21 year old single malt Scotch whisky has been reduced from 47.5% to 40% in a move designed to protect the character of the travel retail exclusive expression.

Launched in 2007, the 21 year old has been very well received, according to Highland Park Global Controller Jason Craig. More than 20,000 cases have been sold per annum, exceeding initial forecasts.

"With this in mind, we are keen to maintain the availability of our 21 year old expression, but changes have to be made to provide future quality and consistency," he explained.

"We intend to keep the same selection of cask types for the 21 year old and, as with all expressions of Highland Park, the colour will remain entirely natural. However, in order to protect the character of this variant, a reduction in overall strength has been required; this reflects the relatively lower cask strengths of the whiskies coming from the mid- to late-1980s, the key constituent components for this expression. As a result, the abv has been reduced from 47.5% to 40%," he said.

The abv change was made from April 2009 and the product continues to be well received by consumers, according to Craig.

He said that the company was also looking at potential strength changes to its 25 year old and 30 year old products and said that these were "at least nine months away".

"With regard to the 25 year old, we have changed the strength several times in the last 11 years since it was released, so we are not concerned about another change."

William

[Calder]

It would be interesting to see someones tasting notes who has tased both the 47.5% and the new 40% HP21, on the surface this move could be about money and profits.

Calder

[McKay]

Just spotted your post William, it does seem like the move is about profits but perhaps they have reduced the price of the new 40% bottling accordingly.

McKay

[Charlie]

I just picked up a bottle of the old HP21 47.5% ABV at Prestwick airport this morning for £60

They still had another couple of bottles on the shelf if anyone is looking for the old bottling before it disappears forever.

Charlie

[Harvey]

Thanks Charlie

i will be passing through Prestwick at the end of the month, hopefully they have some of the old 47.5 abv left and it is a good price. I am not impressed that they reduced the abv, i think i would give the new bottle a miss out of protest.

Harvey