The oak is quite subdued, worn, polished boards with some allspice, baker’s chocolate, candied ginger, and fine ground black pepper. At this point, the peat and smoke are just a subtle, earthy, greenish note tucked in the background. Behind that, there’s sticky, spiced holiday fruitcake with a faint whiff of yeasty, crusty bread. There’s very floral honey and hard, underripe Bartlett pears, along with a bit of pithy orange, and just a hint of Sweetarts candy. The Nose: Gentle and at first glance, understated…and so, so comforting and familiar. Usually, these will be American oak casks which have been “seasoned” with Oloroso sherry for just a few months. As far as I know, Highland Park still uses ex-sherry casks for the majority of its maturation. Compare that with an Islay whisky like Laphroaig or Ardbeg (around 45ppm and 55ppm, respectively) and you get an idea of the role peat plays in this particular whisky. Though after being blended with the non-peated malt, that number drops to between 4 and 6 ppm. If you’re into numbers, it might interest you to know that Highland Park’s malt is peated at approximately 20 parts per million (PPM). Islay peat gives a whisky that distinct medicinal, petrol-y, tarry edge, whereas Orkney peat is more floral and earthy. But the difference is apparent even to non-experts like myself. To hear the experts tell it, peat on Orkney has more decomposed heather than, say, Islay peat which consists of more decomposed wood. More importantly, all the in-house maltings are still peated with that distinct Orcadian peat. Highland Park still malts approximately 20% of its barley requirement in-house. Or at least it’s tried to remain as consistent as a whisky can in these days of dwindling old stocks and age consolidation. Even more thankfully, the flagship of the line, this Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour has, other than that Viking honour bit, reportedly remained more or less the same. Thankfully, they’ve not abandoned their age statement bottles. To be honest, trying to keep up with multitudinous releases Highland Park has trotted out in recent years has felt like being a nervously swimming Pict trying to keep up with a Viking longboat. With names like “Viking Pride,” “Valkyrie,” and “Sigurd,” most of the brand’s titled releases have a Norse-themed name and a rather busy bottle design.
#Viking honor full
The latest re-design and re-brand came in 2017, and for this one Highland Park just went full fucking Viking.
#Viking honor series
In the early 2010’s the company released the Valhalla series which stepped up the Norse influence further, and that aesthetic grew from there. The founder of the distillery, or at least, the guy that was distilling illegal spirit in roughly the same place the distillery sits now, was named Magnus Eunson and was also reportedly of Scandinavian descent. Orkney spent a fair amount of time under Norwegian rule, from 875 AD to 1472 to be exact, and many of the Islands’ place names still have a bit of Nordic flair. Thanks to the distillery’s home on Orkney Island, Highland Park has always embraced its Norse heritage. Over the years, the Edrington-owned brand has moved from a wide, yet somewhat stoic age range that ranged from 10 years to 40 years, to a hard-to-keep-up-with rebrand and expansion that includes age-stated bottles, no-age-stated bottles, special vintage bottles, limited release bottles, anniversary bottles, and travel retail bottles. Highland Park themselves have been a bit more, shall we say, adventurous and prolific. Oh sure, there’ve been dabblings in things like Dark Origins and Magnus, but typically, we tend to just stay put with the 12 year old. Back when they were more affordable, the 18 year old and 15 year old got some play, but today, the 15 year old is no more, and the 18 year old is reserved for much more special occasions thanks to its hefty leap up in price. That said, we don’t often stray from the 12 Year Old. So, yeah, this one is a perennial favorite, it pre-dates my more arch and absurd interest in whisky, and still brings a smile to my face each and every time I splash a bit around a glass. Though, I’m sure he’d happily admit that’s for his sake as much as anyone else’s. And my dad, ever the good steward of tradition, tends to make sure there’s a bottle on hand no matter whose house we’re in. For all intents and purposes, Highland Park 12 Year Old feels like our family’s house whisky, no matter whose house we’re in. I think the bottles and labels have gone through at least four or five major changes in the span since he first poured me a glass. I don’t remember exactly when my dad started to drink Highland Park, but it was a while ago. In honor of this upcoming Father’s Day in general and my father in particular, here’s a review of perhaps his favorite whisky. S làinte mhath, Dad! That’s as full a bottle as I could capture.
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