Highland Park 10 Year Viking Scars

Complex body. Peaty/smoke fresh fruit body with sweetness. Nice mouthfeel, orange/citrus on the body.

Oily. Well balanced whisky from the very northern Orkney Islands. Nosing unravels a mixture of citrus fruits that gets less sweet and more thorough in its tasting. Peatiness is promised, although only gently found in the palette.

This is a newer, European release exclusive, 10 year expression from Highland Park...and, yes, it has the Viking-theme designation: Viking Scars. (Rolling eyes emoji). This stuff is also so exclusive that they had to shrink the bottles to 35cl to make sure there’s plenty for the crazy high demand. I assume it was also diluted to 40% to help stretch it, as well. The only good part of all this is that I landed a bottle for $18. Appearance-wise, it’s rich gold and really oily, with lots of runny legs and medium-sized, watery drops in the Glencairn tasting glass. The nose seems much closer to an ex-bourbon matured HP than their typical Oloroso sherry stuff. Apples, pears and orange wedges greet you almost immediately. There’s very little smoke, which has become more of the norm with HP recently. Oak tannins and heather round things out and there’s absolutely zero heat or ABV presence, but that’s no surprise really. The palate focuses a bit more on the sherry cask notes: raisins and fresh-pressed grapes mingle with some orange marmalade. It has an oily and warm mouthfeel with hints of salty peat and smoke on the very backend. It’s very thin and sweeter than I expected, since I figured the youthful age would hinder this one and create a more abrasive and maybe give it a new make vibe. But, that’s not really the case. It’s sweet and borderline one dimensional. The finish is short, but vibrant and slightly harsh. Sherry and orchard fruit linger again, but cause it to lean a bit too dessert-like for my tastes. Overall, I don’t know the real reason for this release. Small bottles tend to indicate something more limited, yet highly prized- and this certainly wouldn’t be considered prized. The diluted nature and 10 year age statement feel like they’re just trying to keep up with the Joneses. Oh, so and so has a 10yo release? We need to get in on that. Adding the Viking nameplate is an embarrassing move here, too. Everything about this screams mediocrity, so that’s the fitting score I will give it. 2.5 stars. The price is right, I guess, but I’m not bumping this score just for that. Just move along...even you HP fanboys, there’s nothing to see here. Cheers