Highland Park Full Volume

Aftertaste is prominent. You can breathe it in. Seems like there is a bit of vanilla right up front, but fades quickly as you stop drinking. Maybe a bit further into the aftertaste, too. There’s more in there that i can’t quite articulate Pairs interestingly with nerds clusters.

Seventeen Highland Parks, damn. Lowest I’ve ranked is 2.75/5, and I average out at 3.8/5. I think, I should probably shout from the roof top that Highland Park are great (marketing BS aside). Shouting from the rooftops, at full volume. See what I did there. Masterful lead in. Arguably this is one of HPs most unique liquids. Instead of the typical interplay of bourbon and sherry casks; full volume is casked exclusively in first fill bourbon casks. Allegedly this “turned up the volume on those delicious creamy bourbon notes.” N: Slightly waxy. Vanilla and fudgey depths layer with malt to make a bakery/pastry sensation. A slight mineral note contributes to a more nuanced character with a citrus peel and wood spice. The light peat is a nice backing that wafts through but it perhaps lacks the signature HP herbal-floral character you would expect. A simple nose, but it works well enough. P: Interesting. A mirror of the nose but with a little chaotic buzz to it. Some slightly sweet smoke notes build then quickly change direction to a little spicy heat. Vanilla cream is the central thread that links the chaos and amongst it all there is, toasty malt, a little brown sugar, coconut, stone fruit and some herbal-bbq notes carried in by the peat smoke. F: Medium. The malt is most apparent here, it gets quite dry and woody and maybe leans a little into the coconut, and possibly even charred pineapple. Full Volume. An interesting marketing twist from HP, away from the typical viking garb. Picking this up, I was thinking Spinal Tap and turning it all the way up to 11. I thought someone was going to burst through the wall like the Kool Aid Man and beat me over the head with an electric guitar. I thought wrong. This felt lazy. HP has a remarkable delicacy and powerful grasp of you when done well; not so much here. Rather, despite a clean and simple nose, and little buzzy palate, the rest was dull by normal HP standards. I don’t know if the 17 y/o age statement and safe/dull profile is a reflection of using up stocks or an experiment gone wrong but this isn’t HP, and it is certainly nothing you would expect for 17 years, especially compared to the 17 light and (magical) dark expressions. Sadly the best of HP, the heathery peat, is a mere shadow of its normal glory, and the richness imparted by the normal sherry casks is sorely lacking. This is Highland Park dialled down to an inoffensive 5, not a full volume 11. Distiller whisky taste #199 [Pictured here with another viking rock, as is now the norm for HP. This is a cordierite bearing pegmatite from Risør in Southern Norway. Little is known about this location with its exact position tightly guarded. The rock, as best as I can deduce is a product of very high grade metamorphism where partial melting occurred and coarse grained igneous pegmatites created. The rock is predominantly quartz and plagioclase but host beautiful sky blue cordierite crystals also. Lovely] HP Running ranking: 10: 3.75 12: 4 15: 4.25 18: 4.75 25: 4.75 Valknut: 4.25 Valkyrie: 4.25 Valfather: 4 Dragon Legend: 3.25 Voyage of the Raven: 3.5 Spirit of the Bear: 3.25 Loyalty of the Wolf: 2.75 Wings of the Eagle: 4 The Light: 4.25 The Dark: 5 Mjolner: 4.5 Full Volume: 3.25

20210802 - Orkney - 76

A bit darker on the late. Sort of sherryesque. Mildly smoky finish. Not bad!

12/31/2021 너티한 꿀의 느낌이 나고 바닐라의 풍미가 강하다. 의외로 포도 계열의 향이 난다. 알콜부즈가 조금 강하다. 카푸치노도 아주 옅게 느껴진다. 오렌지로 시작해서 바닐라 터치가 매우 빠르고 매끄럽게 지나간다. 포도 계열의 단 맛이 느껴지고 다크 초콜릿으로 마무리된다. 처음부터 끝까지 아주 강한 오크향이 느껴진다. 살짝 스파이시하고 스모키한 피니쉬. 그 이후에 스타아니스 힌트가 나타나고. 포도의 단맛의 비강에서, 다크초콜릿의 쌉싸름함이 혀에서 이어진다. 아주 길지는 않은 피니쉬.

Blind tasting Nose: not much. Light, crisp, some oak. Taste: smooth but spicy. Buts of champagne grapes on the finish. Grassy, floral Wood: virgin oak Distillery? Old pulteney Glen grant Hibiki (This reminds me of my recollection of balvenie American oak but when I tasted that blind last week I had a different reaction. )