I've seen a slew of Highland Park reviews coming in today on my feed from @cascode and I figured that since I have a bottle of the 12 open, I might as well join in the fun. I don't think he's gotten to this one yet, but I've also encountered a number of reviews over time from people I follow here where the consensus seems to be that the Highland Park 12 used to be better? I'm not sure how long ago that was. Maybe a few years? I do see here that it used to be an 80 proof scotch before they slapped the Viking Honour label on it, and for a moment, I thought, well, it probably wasn't better then given upping the proof usually improves the quality. However, after watching this documentary about the Bruichladdich master distiller where it was pointed out that Scotsman always splash their scotch with water, I did that with this and lo and behold, I think I like it more with a little water. But that's getting ahead of myself. Without water, my verdict here is....this is fine. But is "this is fine," really what you're looking for out of a whisky that's going for $60? Of course, I picked this up on sale and with a coupon, so I paid $44. But here's the reason I'm talking about price: on both the nose and palate, this seems identical to me to Jura 10. What that means is that you get the faintest whiff of peat smoke on the nose (I still maintain that if you drink Islay regularly, you don't even notice the peat in Highland Park or Jura), along with honey, vanilla and pear. And that's really the highlight here. Once it hits the palate those flavors blend in such a way that they're no longer distinct so it tastes like a muddled fruity desert with a dose of sulphur in the back (which once pointed out by @ContemplativeFox I can't really not notice) that doesn't ruin it but gives it an acrid edge in the finish. Now I don't have an open bottle of the Jura 10 with me to compare, but I don't remember that acrid note in it and the Jura is $45 full price and $40 on sale, so while I'm fine with having picked this Viking Honour up for $45, there's no way I'd ever pay full price for this when I can get the same profile for cheaper. And in the end, well, this may sound odd, but of the cheaper Highland Park, I like the Magnus, which is NAS and is a bit rough around the edges, but it's the roughness I like in there. It reminds of Ardbeg's Wee Beastie in that it's not as refined, but back when it was $35, it was a joy to have a bottle of it around. Like everything it's gone up $10 and I probably wouldn't buy it full price now, but if it ever goes on sale, I might consider it again. Oh, and I almost forgot, splashing this brings forth the fruit and vanilla and mutes the sulphur, so this one, even at 43% is actually better when you dial it down. So, there's that. Overall, I can't see myself reaching for this on the shelf again. And the 18, well, maybe on a real special occasion, but at $150, it's a little about my regular price range. We're going to put this in the category of I want to like this a lot more than I do, but I'm also certainly not dumping the bottle.