Highland Park Odin

Part four, and the last of the “Premium Highland Park samples from Lee” series of reviews. This is Odin. The Allfather. King of Asgard, father to Thor and Loki, and husband to Freya. Enough of the Norse mythology, let’s get to the whisky! This 16 year old single malt is bottled at what I believe is cask strength of 55.8% ABV, natural color of a dark amber and most likely non chill filtered. Matured exclusively in first fill and refill sherry casks with no bourbon casks at all. Beautiful intense sherry on the nose. Warm vanilla and brown sugar. Raisins, dates and plums. A little salty/savory and a light smoke. Buttery biscuits, warm wheat bread and toffee. Roasted mixed nuts, cocoa powder, cinnamon, a touch of chili powder. There was a quick hit of turmeric or curry powder but it was gone so fast I couldn’t really work it out. Chocolate oranges, ginger, fennel, a slight waxy note and a touch of maple syrup. Tobacco drizzled with honey, old wood and leather. After all that, the barest hint of banana. It’s not quite as elegant or balanced as the 25, but just as satisfying. The palate arrives with intense peppery oak. Quite powerful, and it builds. Roasted nuts, sherry, raisins, dates, plums and smoky oranges. Some alcohol burn. Spice cake, cinnamon, clove, more oak and pepper. I had to add a few drops of water to tame this beast or my tongue was going to fall off. What I got afterwards was butter cookies, like the Royal Dansk cookies that come in the blue tin. I also got crusty wheat bread with a little honey on it. All of that was covered in pepper though. The spice never really left. A full bodied mouthfeel that was oily and mouthwatering. The finish is long and dry, with oak, pepper and dried plums. The profile here really fits the name Odin. Incredibly strong and it commands respect. Not as sophisticated as the 25, but no less great. Like the Ice Edition, I feel this would have been better presented at 48% ABV as it’s just a bit too strong on the palate. At $300 it’s almost worth the price...but not quite (for me anyways). I’m giving this a 4.5, same as the 25 year old. It’s as good, just in a different way. Another huge thanks to @LeeEvolved for all the wonderful samples with which I have been provided. It’s been an adventure for sure. Cheers

Odin is the king of the nordic gods, and he always wanted to gain wisdom no matter what, and that is why he went to Yggdrasil, the tree of life, to obtain great wisdom. In order to achieve that goal, he had to drank almost daily from a well of wisdom that was guarded by Mimir, a great being. Mimir would only allow Odin to drink from the well, if Odin made an incredible sacrifice. Odin of course decided that great wisdom was something that he needed to have, so he ripped off one of his own eyes, to exchange it for the permission to access the wisdom well. The moral of the story is that you should seek knowledge over any other thing in the world. Highland Park released this "Odin" expression, from their Valhalla collection, and it comes in a dark bottle that shows the Nordic god without and eye, and the decanter comes in the viking ship, Skíðblaðnir. Bottled at 55.8%abv, this one has been matured in Spanish sherry casks & refill hogsheads. On the nose, marvelous. Prunes, rum and raisins ice cream. Cherries. There is this wall of sulphur and caramelized apple. Mint liquor. Strong mint candy. After the first sip, aroma gave me burnt hay, cigarrette. Then the aroma changed into glazed pork, red apples and brownies. SO COMPLEX. Incredible. On the palate, it starts metallic, like licking a coin. Mineral, rocky. Pepper and salt. A second sip gave me red fruits and chilli. It is actually SUPER SALTY and Maritime, like a viking battle ship on the sea. Aftertaste can onñy be described as "a thousand viking battles. Fireworks, a spear with fire and scorched earth are actual aftertaste notes here. So salty, it has this Indian food feeling. It is like a ball of salt! Amazing. Overall, this is perfection. Everyone in my tasting event loved it. I can honestly say that as Loki, from the same Valhalla collection, this are very good whiskies. Lovely, poweful, full of complexity and flavor, this is a whisky you should definitively try at least once in your life. Amazing stuff, my score is 100 over 100.

After spending a long, Christmas Day at work so that my co-workers with small children could spend the holiday at home with them, I'm finally able to unwind and reward myself with a nicer bottle from my collection. Why not open the finale of Highland Park's Valhalla collection: Odin. The Norse God that was known as the "All-Father" to Thor. This Odin is a 16 year old, single malt that spent its entire life in first fill and refilled Sherry casks. It's also cask strength and comes in at an impressive 111.6 proof. As part of its unique packaging it comes with a black, wooden display case in the shape of old, Viking sailing ships. This bottle is also painted solid black with what appears to be painted labels instead of the typical vinyl label. Pretty cool, albeit unnecessary. The nose is very inviting: sweet vanilla and honey, with a slight hint of citrus peel while rounding out with the well balanced peat smoke found in most Highland Park offerings. On the palate, it has a very prominent sweetness that's rushed away by the heavy peppery, cinnamon oak and high ABV. It takes your breath if you aren't expecting it. There's a good bit of complexity in the finish that makes it really fantastic: sherry, vanilla, cinnamon, oak and citrus peel and peat smoke. All those flavors seem to wrangle your tongue simultaneously making it a bit of a chore to analyze this without cooling it off with a bit of water. Overall, though, if you enjoy Highland Park whisky you'll surely be delighted by this rare bottle. It's perfect for sitting down and giving your palate a challenging workout. I believe this bottle ran around or slightly above $300 and it's hard to justify that when you know the HP 18 is less than half that and oh so good. If I take the rarity aspect out of it and judge it on its merits alone it's a 4.25-4.5 star offering. The price and difficulty of locating it drops it a bit for me to a solid 4 star whisky. Happy Holidays and cheers, friends. Bring on 2017!

Thanks to a generous sample provided by Lee, I was able to try this rare limited Islander this evening. If you've had the HP 18, this is right up there with it, but more intense and firmer. Whereas the 18 is complex and full of depth, this is intense and full of character. Odin was the perfect name for it. On the nose, you get oranges and vanilla, and then becomes stronger on the palate with capsicum style pepper, peat, and honey with a lingering citrus finish. At close to $300, I'm not sure I'd be hard pressed to buy this over the 18 though. The rarity definitely adds to the premium. I've had one other Valhalla series before---Freya. Compared to Freya, this is quite different. Freya was lighter and fruitier compared to this. Between the two, I think this is better. But, I'd still get the 18 over this, not because it's better than this, but it's similar in quality (not taste), at half the price.

Beaucoup de fruits caramélisés, une pointe de sel, des épices de Noël et du sucre d’orge, dans une explosion de saveurs un peu rough et intense, mais très agréable quand même. Comme un cask strength de leur 18 ans mais en devenir; beaucoup de matière, mais moins sur le cacao que le 18 ans (moins de fumée tourbée et de barrique brûlée). C’est sans le raffinement de leur Freya ou du 18 ans disons, mais ça demeure une bombe de saveurs!

Powerful. Needs water to calm down the god of gods. Peat, sherry, sweet and massive body. Finish is long and unveils more of the cask values. This full body whisky has great layers. Sampled at the lcbo tasting station in summer hill. I wish I had more of the nectar of the gods to keep unraveling the mystery of Valhalla.