Highland Park 18 Viking Pride
In addition to the daily advent calendar whisky reveal and reviews I’m doing, I still wanted to do some regular reviews as well. Today’s Whisky Wednesday dram is the “Untouchable” Highland Park 18 Viking Pride. I called it untouchable because it is one of the all-time best whiskies in the world and one of the most awarded. In fact, it has dominated for so long that they retired it into the hall of fame and don’t allow it to be considered for awards any longer to make it fair for the rest! For this reason alone, one should have this classic Orkney malt in their collection at all times.
Bottled at 43% ABV.
Colour: Light Amber Gold
Nose: Rich honey and floral notes, mixed tropical fruit, light aromatic peat smoke.
Palate: More fragrant honey, heathery peat smoke, creamy mouth feel, notes of coffee and cinnamon.
Finish: Long and lingering light peat smoke with dark fruits and chocolate.
Paired with Christmas fruitcake.
Some say that the quality of Highland Park 18 is not what it used to be. I, myself, have had a bottle that mildly disappointed me. One thing I have discovered is that whiskies will change over time. Although, distilleries pride themselves on quality and consistency, there are simply too many factors that come into play that influence the final product. Casks, climate, grain, are only a few factors that distillers have very little control over. Even your own palate will change over time. As you get older and farther along on your whisky journey certain characteristics in a dram may not hold as much clout as they once did and others more. So, if you find a certain bottle is not living up to your expectations, don’t give up on that expression forever. Give it another chance… or you can always send it my way!
Rating 9.7/10
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