Having a Viking Honour edition. The style of the bottle and package is snazzy and fancy with no lack of originality. This is what catches your sight at first and makes your expectations high above average. The color is sweet as it is not very usual. Deep muted golden barley, no limpid. After first tasting I was quite disappointed. HP12 seemed a bit plain, soft, poor in variation (probable reason is I was tasting it after Caol Ila and Lagavulin). But now, after I’ve tried it for the second time I am more to agree with the majority of people telling that HP12 is a wonderful example of “everyday whisky” being a truly decent one. Aroma delivers a quite simple, not an extraordinary but pleasant experience. It’s really soft, meadowy, clear sweet, a bit watery but intense at the same time, with many honey notes along with raspberry/sugary hints, but might seem a bit salty on the flip side. The taste might not be impressive but again it is warming and mild. A bit of soil and wet leather flavors. Some fruitiness (even vegetables like fresh cucumber), freshness, watery but racking sweetness again. Contains a little bit of smoke as well. If searching for the closest analog it’d probably be The Glenrothes Vintage Reserve (quite weird to compare an islander to a speysider, I know), and to the favor of HP12 - VR is a bit less intense and worse balanced. The aftertaste is the only thing that exactly matches with what you expect. Nice, consistent, a bit sharp and longing with spicy and smoky notes. The second tasting reveals some varnish, bitterness and even dampness.