Highland Park 1985 Samaroli Coilltean

Samaroli is perhaps Italy's most revered independent bottler of Scotch whisky. With an impeccable taste in single cask whiskies, and an eye for aesthetics (if not English spelling at times!), he is regarded by many as a visionary. Many of his bottles now occupy deserved sports on the pantheon of whisky greats

Coilltean was originally a label devised by Samaroli to give more variety to his portfolio after over-purchasing casks of Glen Garioch. By the early 2000s he was using many distilleries to bottle Coilltean, and now disclosing their names. These are some of the first releases to bear the contentious "refined inside the bottle since..." text, that the Scotch Whisky Association abhorred, but Silvano fully believed in.

This Highland Park was distilled in 1985 and bottled from a single cask in 2000.

Highland Park was built by David Robertson all the way back in 1798. The distillery's relationship with blenders, Robertson & Baxter, saw it acquired by Highland Distillers in 1937, who were subsequently bought by Edrington in 1999, who run it today. The modern Highland Park single malt brand was first officially bottled in the 1970s, with the release of an 8 year old age statement, but distillery bottlings first appeared around the 1950s. The look of the brand has changed many times over the years, but its cult following and popularity has never diminished. It remains one of the most recognisable single malts in the world to this day.