Highland Park The Light 17 Year

I loved The Dark; otherwise I would not be writing this, because this cost a pretty penny. I was given The Dark in a tasting by a liquor rep that I know, so I knew what I was getting into when I bought it. And I was referred to this one by my positive experience with its sister bottle. Let’s see if I the other side of coin measures up. Nose: Peat and sulfur. Caramel, saltwater taffy, and vanilla. Floral notes. Apple, pear, and grape. Almond macadamia, and walnut. Light black bean, red pepper chili. Clove, nutmeg, white pepper, cinnamon, and oak. Palate: Salwater taffy and caramel. Pineapple, coconut, gala apple, pear, and apricot. Peanut/almond butter. Marshmallow, vanilla, toffee, and malt. A bit of custard. Very light peat presence. Clementine and orange. Finish: Plenty of heat. Clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and white pepper. Earthy peat. Some of the apple, pear, pineapple, and apricot as well. Almond, macadamia, and walnut. Oak. What to say about this one? It’s an amazingly clean whisky. Perhaps too clean. The nose was practically non-existent, I had to really concentrate just to pull enough notes have a description. The body and finish were much better and had more character. Not a bad foil to The Dark, but definitely not the better option of the two, either. At $300, expectations were high. So while it may sound like I’m beating this one up, a lot of my disappointment is just a derivative of the high bar—especially when it’s impossible to separate this from its counterpart in my mind. It lives up to its moniker “The Light” and does enough to avoid being dubbed “The Lightweight.” Remarkably refreshing at 52.9%. Well-balanced. 3.5/5.

We now arrive at the pointy end of these HP tastings. Tonight we crack into The Light, one of two special releases, the other being The Dark. Both with an age statement of 17 years, beautiful packaging and a seemingly outrageous price of AUD$399.99. Given the standard 18 is exceptional and only AUD$250, there had better be something special inside the Light and Dark. The Light was created to celebrate warm summer days in Orkney - or so say HP marketing. From the HP website “Made to honour a time when we emerge from winter hibernation, ready to embrace the fresh air, clear skies and long days of summer, the whisky is light and bright. Its delicious warm-season-friendly palate is the result of 17 years' maturation in refill American oak casks, which have a more gentle influence than first-fill European oak casks… Orcadian Summer in a bottle. N: Yes, floral peat is forward and just excellent! There is vibrant citrus, crisp juicy apple, honied malt, a tiny bit of toasty wood and some background wood spice. P: Good viscosity balancing the line between oily and creamy. Vibrant and tongue tickling fruit salad of mango, banana and peach with extra sweetness from hard candy pear drops. Restrained perfumed wood (sandalwood/cedarwood? I can never tell the difference) rides with the honey-malt cereals which fade to a soft butterscotch. Through everything the peat is a ghostly touch with a perfumed-floral and slightly peppery influence. Adding water does nothing for me but mute everything into a longer, but milder and less pronounced imposter of itself. F: Long. Oily to waxy and laden with pepper, citrus peel a building smoke and background biscuit note. Brilliant stuff. Clean, sharp, bright, and superbly executed. If this is an Orkney Summer bottled then thats where I want to over summer. I have said over the last several HP tastes I have written that the standout for me from HP is the floral peat on the nose, when that carries over to the palate they are just fantastic. This light is not a competitor to the 18 but rather stands alongside it. The sherry influence isn’t here in the Light, this is absolutely just about the heather and the malt and they are showcased extremely well. The downside though, is this is perhaps a touch simple and lacking some more interest and character. I’d also hazard to say that despite how summery and the money that marketing is, and how wonderful the box is; the Light is overpriced when you know the 18 exists, even if they are not direct competitors the 18 is just too good to let this take the (spot)light. [Pictured here with this drams viking themed rock a garnet-pyroxenite from the Bergen Arc near Holsnøy in Norway. This rock is an ultramafic representative of some really complex mantle geology that occurred during shearing of a subjected slab of oceanic crust during the Caledonian Orogeny ~500-440 million years ago.] ⁣ Distiller whisky taste #141 HP Running ranking (mostly for my benefit): 10: 3.75 12: 4 15: 4.25 18: 4.75 25: 4.75 Valknut: 4.25 Valkyrie: 4.25 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

Highland Park 17 the light is matured in second fill American oak and bottled at 52.9%. The nose is very intense! A massive amount of peat and oak hit you right away. You also get sharp spices like nutmeg and clove makes an appearance. I also get a distance honey like sweetness. The nose definitely isn’t my favorite style but its super complex’s and reminiscent of peat forward whiskies. The finish and palate is where this shines. A punch of pears and nectarines hit you on the palate with cedar wood and the finish lasts for days. I’m definitely taking the more tame and sweeter 18 year over this but they aren’t really comparable. This is a well made dram that you break out on the colder nights.