There's a New Way to Try 54-Year-Old Scotch From Highland Park. Here's How

A rare, 54-year-old single cask of one of Scotland’s most respected single malts is available in limited quantities this month. Duncan Taylor, a cask broker, announced “The Accolade” Highland Park 1970 a 54-year-old single cask, single malt Scotch. The whisky was distilled and barreled by Orkney-based Highland Park in the same year that Apollo 13 launched and rested at Duncan Taylor's Huntly, Scotland headquarters essentially since The Beatles broke up.

Duncan Taylor is an independent company that helps distilleries and individuals buy, sell, and manage whisky casks. The company has collected untold stocks of whisky over its eight decades, and without the pressure to release new products quarterly or even annually, it has the ability to wait until a Scotch whisky is truly at its peak.

Duncan Taylor describes The Accolade range as a collection of the brand's rarest, most preeminent spirits. But it would be more appropriate to describe the cellars in the Huntly vaults as Highland Park's applied sciences division—a place where amazing things collect dust until it’s time for a showstopper.

Drawn from a single cask (number 3,254 to be exact) the whisky was bottled an ABV of 42.9 percent in a “hand-crafted dagger decanter, complemented by the themed wave in the form of an illuminated copper plinth,” according to Duncan Taylor. The whisky comes with a certificate of authenticity and handling kit containing gloves.

According to tasting notes provided by Duncan Taylor, The Accolade 1970 boasts a “rich and multi-faceted nose with layers of leather, caramel, marzipan, and a symphony of alluring red fruits, melon, and soft, lingering smoke.”

The palate blends notes of cherries, apricots, nutmeg and a “gentle embrace of peat,” which then releases layers of sweet woody notes, wet stones and mineral sea air.”

It's completed by a “creamy, luxurious finish that lingers with delicate spice, evoking the decadence of crème brûlée, and the comforting sweetness of red apple tart tatin.”

Duncan Taylor purchased the cask the year it was filled and has been aging it in its own cellars for more than half a century, so this whiskey is truly, genuinely, one of a kind. In the broadest sense, however, it’s not.

Duncan Taylor's 54-year-old Highland Park single malt is actually the second 54-year liquid released with the Highland Park name in the last two years. Highland Park released a 54-year to the U.S. market in 2023—one the distillery had also been in possession of since it was first put into oak.

Exactly how different are the Scotches? Highland Park's own bottling features pronounced ginger sweetness and faint wisps of smoke. Price-wise, Duncan Taylor’s, for its part, is around $28,600, while Highland Park's is a sobering $54,000. Finally, the yield. A total of 225 bottles hit the market as Highland Park’s big celebratory release for their 225th anniversary last year. Just 158 bottles of Duncan Taylor’s version will be sold exclusively online through The Spirits Embassy at The Rarest Accolade .

As for Highland Park’s own version, you’ll need a broker to find a bottle. Or a time machine. But if you have one of those, you might as well go back in time, buy some casks of your own, and maybe a little stock in Apple while you’re at it.

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