Seventeen Highland Parks, damn. Lowest I’ve ranked is 2.75/5, and I average out at 3.8/5. I think, I should probably shout from the roof top that Highland Park are great (marketing BS aside). Shouting from the rooftops, at full volume. See what I did there. Masterful lead in. Arguably this is one of HPs most unique liquids. Instead of the typical interplay of bourbon and sherry casks; full volume is casked exclusively in first fill bourbon casks. Allegedly this “turned up the volume on those delicious creamy bourbon notes.” N: Slightly waxy. Vanilla and fudgey depths layer with malt to make a bakery/pastry sensation. A slight mineral note contributes to a more nuanced character with a citrus peel and wood spice. The light peat is a nice backing that wafts through but it perhaps lacks the signature HP herbal-floral character you would expect. A simple nose, but it works well enough. P: Interesting. A mirror of the nose but with a little chaotic buzz to it. Some slightly sweet smoke notes build then quickly change direction to a little spicy heat. Vanilla cream is the central thread that links the chaos and amongst it all there is, toasty malt, a little brown sugar, coconut, stone fruit and some herbal-bbq notes carried in by the peat smoke. F: Medium. The malt is most apparent here, it gets quite dry and woody and maybe leans a little into the coconut, and possibly even charred pineapple. Full Volume. An interesting marketing twist from HP, away from the typical viking garb. Picking this up, I was thinking Spinal Tap and turning it all the way up to 11. I thought someone was going to burst through the wall like the Kool Aid Man and beat me over the head with an electric guitar. I thought wrong. This felt lazy. HP has a remarkable delicacy and powerful grasp of you when done well; not so much here. Rather, despite a clean and simple nose, and little buzzy palate, the rest was dull by normal HP standards. I don’t know if the 17 y/o age statement and safe/dull profile is a reflection of using up stocks or an experiment gone wrong but this isn’t HP, and it is certainly nothing you would expect for 17 years, especially compared to the 17 light and (magical) dark expressions. Sadly the best of HP, the heathery peat, is a mere shadow of its normal glory, and the richness imparted by the normal sherry casks is sorely lacking. This is Highland Park dialled down to an inoffensive 5, not a full volume 11. Distiller whisky taste #199 [Pictured here with another viking rock, as is now the norm for HP. This is a cordierite bearing pegmatite from Risør in Southern Norway. Little is known about this location with its exact position tightly guarded. The rock, as best as I can deduce is a product of very high grade metamorphism where partial melting occurred and coarse grained igneous pegmatites created. The rock is predominantly quartz and plagioclase but host beautiful sky blue cordierite crystals also. Lovely] 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 Full Volume: 3.25