Highland Park Valknut

I’ve said it before that I’m not put off by the marketing aesthetic chosen by Highland Park. When they announced this series and it was one peatier than their typical expressions, it seemed a like a good one to explore. I reviewed Valkyrie ages ago, and here I am finally getting to this one.

Highland Park Valknut, Island (Orkney) Single Malt, 46.8% ABV

Minutia: Matured for some amount of time in Sherry casks and bottled in 2018, the second of three in the Viking Legend series. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Burnished; 1.1.

Nose: Fruit, nut, Sherry (really quick). Leather later. Eventually a “wet”, musty aroma.

Taste: Smoke, spice, citrus custard/creamsicle/orange-vanilla soft serve (but not as sweet as that actual product).

Finish: Earth. Smoke, chocolate, oak/char. Long.

Quite nice. It’s distinctly different but similar to Valkyrie. It does feel like the next step in that line. Hopefully there’s a shorter latency between this and Valfather than Valkyrie to this one, as I’m really looking forward to it, and if the trend continues, I’ll like that one more.

Score: 84

Musical Evocation: Borknagar – “The Eye of Oden”

Highland Park Freya

Not a ton to say about this. They had a sample when I was placing an order for other samples and a bottle. I’ve enjoyed Highland Park well enough, and have been surprisingly tickled by the lighter expressions, and I like Freya so I went for it.

Highland Park Freya, Island (Orkney) Single Malt, 51.2% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 15 years in first fill Bourbon casks, released in 2014 with 19,000 bottles produced. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Amber, 0.7.

Nose: Very light. Vanilla, grapefruit (faint). A hoppy quality I’ve come to associate with lighter Highland Parks.

Taste: Honey, spicy, vanilla.

Finish: Dry, oaky, medium long.

So it’s not my favorite as I generally like a more smoky expression, but I am glad to have tried it. While it is and was far too expensive for what it offers, this is a light and bright and refreshing dram. Quite well suited to a warmer climate.

Score: 80

Musical Evocation: Glittertind – “Longships and Mead”

Highland Park Ice & Fire

They seem to often make nice stuff, and the packaging sure is unique, but such extravagant packaging gives me pause to think the cost might be more about that then the liquid. Still, these particular expressions looked very nice to me and I was glad I was able to try them without having to pay for all the rigamarole.

Highland Park Ice, Island (Orkney) Single Malt, 53.9% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 17 years in 1st fill Bourbon casks and bottled in 2016 yielding 30,000 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn with Fire.

Color: Amber, 0.7.

Nose: Malty, citrus, honey, vanilla.

Taste: Tame, sweet, malty, spice.

Finish: More intense, malt, apple/pear. Long,

Ah, the non-smoky maltiness I’ve been looking for to help my tongue forget about peat for a moment. Packs a bit of a punch with flavor, but doesn’t hit as strong as you’d think given the ABV (in a good way).

Score: 85

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Highland Park Fire, Island (Orkney) Single Malt, 45.2% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 15 years in refill Port-seasoned casks and bottled in 2016 yielding 28,000 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn with Ice (the expression, not a contradiction to the neat serving).

Color: Chestnut Oloroso Sherry, 1.2.

Nose: Red wine, spice, saltwater taffy (unflavored), maybe a bit of banana.

Taste: Fruit, bit of smoke, chocolate, sweet burnt meat.

Finish: Chocolate with jelly filling, spice, oakish.

Man I really liked this one. I was not expecting more flavor from it relative to the Ice given the ABV disparity, but darnit this delived some specific nice flavors where the Ice gave more general ones. Nice work those port-seasoned casks did on this.

Score: 88

Highland Park The Dark & The Light

I’m the first to admit I like the way Highland Park packages a lot of their releases. Unfortunately I hear the quality doesn’t often line up with the aesthetics. Nonetheless, Highland Park is a distillery I’ve been wanting to explore more deeply than just Valkyrie, so when I saw these available as samples I took the opportunity to try an ostensibly premium pair of expressions.

Highland Park The Dark, 17 Years Old, Island (Orkney) Single Malt, 52.9% ABV

Minutia: Matured in ex-Sherry casks. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with The Light.

Color: Tawny, 1.4.

Nose: Fruity, nutty, woody, light smoke/spice.

Taste: Sherry sour, smoke, big ramping heat.

Finish: Oak, cinnamon. Medium-long. Malt late.

This is ok, but costs more than it should. I did really like the spicy elements, it’s something new to me and while it’s not in line with my preferred profile, I did enjoy the unexpected change.

Score: 80

Musical Evocation: Ólafur Arnalds – “Ljósið”

Highland Park The Light, 17 Years Old, Island (Orkney) Single Malt, 52.9% ABV

Minutia: Matured in refill American Oak casks. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with The Dark.

Color: Amber, 0.7.

Nose: Very bright pear, lime. Floral/rose.

Taste: Salt/spice really build and drown out some light citrus and floral notes.

Finish: Vanilla/woody smoke, appley malt/dry-hopped cider.

I found this more enjoyable than The Dark. No pun intended, it is just so much brighter. In terms of how these compare, they are very appropriately named. If I’m not drinking whisky I’m drinking cider, and I prefer the dry variety. The finish was about the same as dry-hopped ciders I’ve had and combined with that peat quality felt almost like that’s what I was drinking. Also too expensive for what it offers, but still a nice dram.

Score: 81

Musical Evocation: Mamiffer – “Mára”

Highland Park Valkyrie

If nothing else, Highland Park knows how to market. I am very into Nordic things, so the new Viking aesthetic they have going on appeals to me, and it would definitely be more likely to grab the average consumer’s eye. Despite some of the bottlings they have being out of my price range, and me knowing it is just in the appearance, I still want them at least to have the empties to display (or use to house personal blends if it came to it). Fortunately, we have eBay where I can get my hands on them if I decide to go down that road. More importantly, though, I didn’t have much experience with what comes inside the bottles and wanted to give myself some familiarity to decide how much more I want to explore offerings from this distillery. I decided to review the three releases in their Viking Legend series since I think it will be manageable to try all in that range and give me a feel for what this distillery has to offer, and some cursory research showed the general profile of the expression is more in line with my preferences than their core range, namely peat.

Highland Park Valkyrie, Island (Orkney) Single Malt, 45.9% ABV

Minutia: Matured in ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks. Peated malt. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn, rested about 10-15 minutes. 

Color: Gold, much darker than I expected for a naturally colored NAS expression.

Nose: Light floral smoke, sliced green apple.

Taste: Rich, peppery, orange zest, snus.

Finish: Short outlook but came back and finished strong. Smoky, spicy malt.

While less peated than I typically like, there was enough there for me to feel comfortable and appreciate what isn’t peat. I got a vague Bunnahabhain sense from this, but with a much more substantial smokiness, obviously. The way I see people enjoying Valknut more than this, I’m really going to enjoy that bottle.

Score: 84