Reverend357
Highland Park Voyage of the Raven
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed
December 3, 2018 (edited December 9, 2018)
Day 3 after a very, very long monday at the office. I really need to get a bottle for my new office room...finally got my own, so now I'm blasting Pantera and Black Label Society instad of pop shit on the radio....so it would only be fitting to get a desk bottle for...longer days. Would still be the room with the least amount of alcohol in this building...a retired coworker started distilling himself. His gin is quite good.
Anyway, back to the sample at hand. So far, Highland Park never disappointed, but the only real broadside hit I got from them was the HP18. That one is still in my top 3.
This sherry bomb though...I'm not sure where HP was going with this. The nose hits you with the typical salt and brine, but not as intense as I'm used to. There is also some honey and the sherry gives it the typical dark fruits that I like.
Taste is interesting. The Sherry clearly dons the dominatrix suit in this partnership, and the peaty parts at times feel like they have been locked in a cage by it. What first hits you is fruity sweetness, then slowly a certain amount of salt makes itself known, and the bitter peatyness just stops by for a quick slap at the end. And that's my main problem with this...short and underwhelming as it may be, the peat note generates a kind of bitterness that does not at all harmonize with the fruityness of the sherry. If done right, those 2 opposites form a delicate balance where both compliment each other, here it feels like a power struggle about who gets to use the whip and who has to wear the collar....and they haven't figured it out yet.
This results in a weird, bitter, fruity and salty aftertaste that just does not work. On their own, each note is very pleasent, togehter...kinda like a 1911 in 9mm. 1911s are great, and 9mm is good, but togheter it's a bit of a mish mash.
So yeah, that sums up my thoughts on this. Sorry for the weird analogies today...didn't get much sleep tonight and the wet cold weather hurts my joints...that makes me a bit weird sometimes.
So yeah, 3.75 stars might be a bit high for it, but I justify it with the fact that while it is a chaotic mess, there is no unpleasent note in it that drags it down. I'd drink the occasional glas of this, but I would hesitate to pay 70 bucks for bottle.
70.0
EUR
per
Bottle
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