Highland Park Valkyrie

The nose is floral, orange blossom, licorice, honey, orange cream, chocolate. I know this supposedly has a higher percentage of peated malt than their normal offerings, but the peat is quite mild. I imagine my preference for peated whisky recently has probably dulled my peaty senses some. On the palate, the peat shows up in a much bigger way, especially with a few drops of water added. There’s the orange, but more like a smoked orange. Almost burnt. Apricot. Honey. Toffee. A little bit of soot. Slight generic herbal note. Cinnamon. The spice carries into the finish with the sweet toffee orange smoke. At $50 I feel good about this purchase, but I struggle a bit to see the value at SRP, which appears to be about 80. It’s got decent complexity and it’s better than the 12 year - at least the current iteration of the 12, but the cask strength is much more enjoyable, and for only about $90 locally.

Slightly peaty and spicy. Caramel on the back. Sweet.

Really interesting one, pretty intense peat on the nose but not smoky, hints of dark chocolate and sweet nuts on the nose and palate, earthy tones with damp grass and peat (no smoke at all!) in the palate and after

Sweet Dried fruit aroma. Nutty, vanilla, with wood notes. Leather finish, with hints of smoke finish.