bigwhitemike
Highland Park 12 Year Viking Honour
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed
May 16, 2020 (edited September 30, 2020)
Revisiting for (enjoyment and) some actual tasting notes which apparently I have eschewed in the past. Neat in a glencairn yields a rich orange hue. Not especially thick, but pleasantly oily on the glass.
An appealing yet convoluted nose. Tart and grainy, with sherry and peat. Orange, pineapple, and mango. A splash of vanilla and buttered walnut. Subtle and lilting spice that doesn’t quite build. Nutty sherry notes are ever-present but never play first chair.
The palate is sweet and creamy and evolves readily from tangy juicyfruit to a flash of peat smoke back to tropical fruits and vanilla almond creme. Lemon chiffon. A touch of astringency lingers with oak and citrus oils, but overall an elegant balance of sweet, peat, fruit, and a dash of bitter.
Zesty, sweet, rich, and smoked. Certainly won’t be for everyone, but the balance and complexity are lovely for an affordable 12 year. Not too concerned with the branding/packaging/etc debate; regardless of any aesthetic preferences, these cats know what they are doing when it comes to the whisky. My enjoyment of HP12 has built over time as I’ve evolved to accept modest peat as a seasoning that pairs quite nicely with sweeter, sherried whiskies. Yum.
48.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@cascode I very much hope you're right :)
@ContemplativeFox I don't think there is anything to worry about. Highland Park has vast reserves and Edrington has a very well-balanced portfolio. They have Famous Grouse to rake in the money from supermarkets, Glenrothes to provide bulk blending malt and the occasional single-malt, and Macallan to fleece the deep-of-pocket. Highland Park is nicely positioned and priced to mop up the middle ground so why change?
I'm terrified that this is going to rise to Macallan 12 prices. My last bottle was $40 and it was a total steal at that price.
@CKarmios I’m of the same opinion... you can do a lot worse than HP, despite the occasionally counterproductive corporate machinations of Edrington group.
They can still make good whisky, irrespective of their marketing department gone feral
@cascode I also don’t really see the point but the design itself of the brand, the website, the bottle, heck even the packaging is really great. I work in advertising as well and this is truly really well done work they did.
@BDanner Yeah, the moulded animal-figure bottles and the whole viking theme that the Edrington marketing people have devised is a bit cheesy. The irony is that Orcadians are more scandinavian than celtic in just about every way, fiercely proud of their genuine viking heritage, and have been making whisky longer than many places on the mainland. I don't know what the distillery folk think about the marketing stuff - the last time I was there was just before the change in livery but I'd wager they are as conflicted about it as most of us are.
This is one of my favorite affordable, everyday Scotches. I'm relatively new to the game and missed the whole transition to the relatively cheesy Viking themed releases (Vikings & Scotch? Really?) but what's in the bottle more than reverses the eye roll from the branding.