Highland Park Valfather

The only HP that I don’t love. Nose is great but bitter on the pallett and long biitter finish.

Nose: Heather, Palate: sherry notes? Finish: Bitter

Nose: Acacia blossom honey, stewed pears in sauternes, a distant smoldering grass-fire, cold fireplace ash, thyme, sage, seaweed, vanilla, a little lemon. The casks are barely visible and there is good weight to the nose – it’s earthy, herbal and the peat-reek builds with repeated nosing. Water reduces the intensity of the nose but does not change the profile. I think it’s just knocking down an ethanol intrusion. Palate: Sweet-and-sour, grippy and full-bodied arrival on spice (pepper), green fruit, citrus, peat smoke and oak. The development is narrow, thin and does not bring out a great deal more, but it does amplify the arrival. The texture is oily but it’s also surprisingly light. There are some big, hot notes here that dominate but don’t contribute much. There are also some more subtle tones, but I think they are all just facets of peat smoke. Water has an unusual effect (see below). Finish: Medium. Unripe apple, raisins, sooty mineral and almost metallic smoke. A dry finish. This is apparently highly peated but you don’t notice it immediately. It creeps up on you with repeated nosing and tasting and there is more peat smoke than you initially think. However this is a mixed blessing because for me this is pretty much a one-note whisky focused on peat. The profile is fairly simple – grassy, peaty, herbal with the signature Highland Park honey notes well represented, but sort of dulled and shadowed while being sharp. Kind of like an ash-pan and a bottle of vodka accidentally tipped over into a honeypot. The nose was by far the best part for me. The palate is noisy and boisterous and it changes curiously with a little dilution. I expected it to gain sweetness and for the spices to be muted, but instead the ashen smoke billowed up and overpowered everything else. On the whole this behaves like very young whisky. When it was first opened it was harsh and gritty, with everything being loud. Time and air has mellowed the profile, but that has just served to showcase its limitations. It’s a good Highland Park, but not anywhere near my top selection. The core-range 10 year old is almost half the price of this and I’d have two bottles of that in preference any day of the week. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars) ----------------------------------------------------- Rating Adjusted 14 March 2023 I've almost finished this bottle and it has improved since it hit the half-way point, with oxidisation softening the tannins and modulating the intensity. It is not nearly as hot as it was at first and a leathery quality has developed. The honey notes common to all Highland Park have intensified and with just a dash of water it is now a very pleasant dram that seems to be less brash and young than it did at first. Still not quite 4 stars for me, but only missing that mark by a single percentage point. "Good" : 84/100 (3.75 stars)

My last Highland Park was back on the 7th January, the end of a pretty long series exploring the main offerings of HP, part of that series begun in October 2022 when @cascode sent me a dram of Valknut, an intense and complex pour that I enjoyed greatly. I was excited then to get my hands on the first in the ‘Val’ series (officially Viking Legends), the Valkyrie. Fifteen HPs later and the Valfather still escaped me. Not anymore, the great @cascode has come to the rescue and delivered me a fantastic batch of samples including Valfather. As became a bit of a tradition during my HP series… let’s check in with Clementine from marketing. Clementine is on work experience and hopes one day to be a social media influencer: “Valfather is inspired by Odin, the mightiest and most complex of the Norse gods, who’s associated with wisdom, sorcery, poetry, death, wolves, and ravens. An intriguingly complex figure, it only follows that this whisky should be just as complex…Winning Gold in the 2020 World Whisky Awards, Valfather is our most peated whisky to date, reflecting Odin’s power. Matured entirely in our finest refill casks to ensure that all that peat is balanced with subtle layers of flavour and character to mirror the ethereal and lighter feel of Valhalla, Odin’s hall. The packaging for the whole series was created by Jim Lyngvild, a Danish designer and artist of international renown, whose great grandfather 36 generations ago was Ragnvald Eysteinsson, the first Earl of the Orkney Islands.” Eugh, 36 generations ago I’m pretty sure we can all claim some fame somewhere! Anyway, the smokiest HP to date? Am I going to be drinking heavy and ashy liquid smoke like Valkyrie, or something stacked with HP heather florals like the standard age statements? Let’s find out… N: Slight ethanol sting to an otherwise phenolic richly pear opening. Slightly sour green cooking apples and wonderfully thick floral smoke. A lightly vanilla and nutmeg spiced undercurrent builds as the ethanol slightly clears in the glass. The smoke changes to slightly more ashy over time. Sadly the raw spirit twang never completely clears. P: Thump. A big and brash arrival of tingling slightly sulphurous embers, a metallic tinge and pepper with a main thread of juicy apple(?). A surprisingly thin mouth feel then for such an almighty industrial open. Behind the borderline harsh initial notes there is some vanilla cream, brown sugar, and beautiful floral-perfumed heathers and cedar. Perhaps a citrus spritzed marzipan? And a smoky-salty note just appears at the back end. F: Medium. Florals shine but black pepper dominates with a just too warm presence. The slight metallic tinge creeps back in as does some juicy sweetness. Woah. This is one heck of a rollercoaster. The peat is certainly ramped up but where I was expecting dark and ashy like Valkyrie I found instead what I think is the most intensely floral-perfumed whisky I’ve tasted to date. I love HP florals. But, what I really don’t like in whisky is two things: (1) is sulphurous tones (learned that from Glenrothes), and (2) Loch Lomond. I think some slightly younger and untamed HP has snuck in the blend here and presents as raw ethanol spirit on the nose and sulphurous-metallic tinges in the palate. It’s noticeable enough that it detracts from what is an evolving and complexly layered dram. Whilst my score likely doesn’t reflect my negative points, Valfather does rank below the other two in the series. I just love these florals too much to drag it down lower. A highly enjoyable and challenging dram that rounds out a really excellent three part set from Highland Park. Thanks again @cascode. Slaite! [Pictured here with another Viking themed rock, this time a Mylonite from Lom, Norway. How fast does a fault move? About a mile-a-night! This rock with its stretched and streaky appearance was formed during the Scandanavian Calodenides; an intense period of mountain building that occurred during the collision of the ancient continents Baltica and Laurentia. Although tectonic plates smashing together would cause compression, extension in the hinterlands due to mountain collapse resulted in the formation of a ductile fault/shear zone that stretched and smeared rocks into these ropy mylonitic fabrics.] Distiller whisky taste #157 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