Aqua Vitae 1988 Highland Park 35 Year Old Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Aqua Vitae 1988 Highland Park 35 Year Old Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky is an exceptional long-aged Orcadian release distilled in 1988 and matured for 35 years before being bottled in 2024. Selected from a single hogshead and released as part of Aqua Vitae’s Divine Beasts series exclusively for Shinanoya in Tokyo, this remarkably limited expression showcases the distinctive balance of fruit, honeyed malt, gentle maritime peat and mature complexity for which old Highland Park is so highly regarded. Bottled at natural cask strength of 50.1% with an outturn of only 150 bottles, it represents an increasingly rare opportunity to experience Highland Park spirit from the late 1980s after more than three decades of maturation.

Distillery: Highland Park Distillery
Bottler: Aqua Vitae
Series: Divine Beasts
Age: 35 Years Old
ABV: 50.1%
Cask Type: Hogshead
Outturn: 150 Bottles 
Bottled For: Aqua Vitae x Shinanoya

Aqua Vitae is an independent bottler known for sourcing distinctive and mature single casks, with its releases often appearing in extremely limited quantities for the Asian whisky market. This particular Highland Park forms part of the Divine Beasts series and features the distinctive “Toad Label”, with the cask selected and bottled specifically for renowned Japanese spirits retailer Shinanoya. With just 150 bottles produced, its combination of significant age, 1988 vintage and single-cask provenance places it firmly among the more collectible independent Highland Park releases of recent years. The whisky has also been particularly well received by enthusiasts, carrying a Whiskybase community rating of approximately 90.5 points.

Tasting Notes:
A beautifully mature and fruit-driven Highland Park, opening with layers of honey, ripe peach and melon alongside lemon zest, mango, papaya and delicate floral notes. Gentle smoke sits beneath the fruit, joined by subtle maritime salinity and beautifully integrated notes of clove, nutmeg and pepper. The palate develops with rich tropical fruits, peach preserve and syrupy malt sweetness balanced by dried hay, minerals and restrained Orcadian peat smoke. Orange citrus and polished spices add further complexity before a long, lingering finish of tropical fruit, grapefruit, soft smoke, mineral notes and cooling mint, with decades of maturation leaving the oak and spice remarkably rounded and composed.