Back in October @cascode was gracious enough to send me a dram of the Valknut. I enjoyed that intense and complex pour greatly. I was excited then to get my hands on the first in the ‘Val’ series, the Valkyrie. Only Valfather escapes me now. According to Norse mythology, Valkyries would descend onto the battlefields to find the best and bravest warriors and give them passage to Valhalla. A little digging and I can see that these three offerings use an unlisted higher contribution of the distillery's floor-malted barley than the usual 20% floor-malted to 80% externally-sourced barley. I think everything else is typical HP; American and European oak sherry casks and American oak ex-bourbon casks, and refill casks. Right enough jabbering, time for me to be carried off by Tessa Thompson,. N: Gentle and inviting with an understated maritime character. Chocolate is the first discrete note I find along with honey and apricot. The beautiful signature HP floral smoke rolls on in and blends together creating a lovely balanced profile. With time in the glass there is some sherry presence but the smoke also builds to a pleasant forcefulness and takes on an ashiness also. Even more time an I do find some wood spice, but I have really had to work to find that, worth it though, really good; freshly waxed and polished oak. P: Thick, full and immediately thick with ashy smoke. Behind the thick smoke curtain are initially wood spice followed by chocolate and toffee with gingery tingle to peppery spice. As the smoke builds the ashy character drops away and allows some fruity sweetness to come out; dried apple rings, plum, and maybe some bitter orange or marmalade? As things develop and meld with subsequent tastes a fudgy creamy texture takes over. Can you get smoke flavoured chocolate marmalade fudge? If not, HP should make it and give me a cut of the profits; thats what this is. F: Medium-short. Creamy texture with warming pepper, chocolate, wood spice and the constance of smoke. I feel like my HP tastings are starting to be the same? Is that just me, I can’t tell any more. Perhaps, I have died at the battlefield of drams and been carried off by a Valkyrie after all? Alternately, maybe I am just dialling into the excellence at the core of a very heavily stacked set of offerings by the team on Orkney? There is much heavier weight to the smoke in Valkyrie, but it also feels different to the standard age statement smoke. Here, things feel heavy and ashy. In the core age range, things culminate at the 18 as floral, light, and delicate - it’s here where I think HP really shine. Despite smoke being heavy and ashy here in Valkyrie, it’s not overbearing. The whole pour is well balanced by the fruity and the woody\winey notes. I’m happy. I’d be happier if Tessa could come take me to the Valfather now! [Pictured here with another Viking themed rock, this time a 440-400 million year old dunite from Åheim, Norway. This green blob is almost pure olivine and representative of the upper mantle after basalt has been extracted] Distiller whisky taste #135 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