Highland Park Svein

I figured that it was finally time to review my Christmas gift from my buddy @Generously_Paul. He picked this bottle out for me during the last auction at SWA and gave it to me a few weeks before the holiday. I believe he ended up winning it for 40£ and after fees and shipping he probably had $65-70 in it. What an excellent gift- thanks again, my friend. This bottle was part of the HP Warrior Series, which was an NAS set released back in 2017, IIRC. There are 6 bottles ranging in price from $40 to over $1000. The Svein was bottled at 40% and spent its entire life in ex-American sherry casks. I’m pretty sure it’s chill filtered, but I don’t think there was coloring added. The appearance was a rich gold and it made heavy, oily drops in the tasting glass- good evidence there was lots of water used to dilute it to 40%. The nose was dominated early on with honey and light citrus. There’s almost no smoke in play here, a slight earthy peat can be coerced with time and lots of turbulence induced in the glass. Some caramel and toffee rounded things out. No heat, no ABV notes though. No surprise. The palate is richly sherried- I’m sure a good portion of this whisky had to matured in first-fill casks to impart this much sherry at this low of an ABV. The lack of smoke is again perplexing, and there’s a full oil slick on the tongue after even the tiniest of sips. The sherry is nice but it’s overly weak on power and peat- which isn’t something I’d expect from Highland Park. It’s odd, but I gotta say this bottle is crushable- and for $50 for a 1L size there’s great value added with that aspect. The finale is short to medium (medium if you’re crushing it with 3-4oz pours lol). There is some light oak notes and a grape sweetness that I didn’t pick up initially. Ultimately it ends up drier than I expected but that’s fine when you wanna power through larger pours/a larger bottle. Needless to say, I killed this bottle in just over 3 weeks (Note: I almost always pour 10-14oz of every bottle I open into samples for friends or pours for my long term sample collection- so I didn’t kill a liter by myself in that short of a period). Overall, this is what it was probably meant to be- something a casual drinker can crush and not be overwhelmed by any one aspect. It’s for the masses and it works well- especially if you factor in price point. Grab a bottle if you still see them sitting on a shelf or get a pour at a bar for $4-5 and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. You can’t really go wrong here. 3-3.25 stars for the liquid, with a bump for value pricing. Cheers.

Nose: Sweet meadow blossom honey, malt extract, orange peel and a little touch of earthy peat smoke. While seemingly simplistic at first the nose blooms over time to reveal itself as a petite but very well balanced parcel of aromas. Mild barley sugar and a herbal note like crushed bracken fern waft in the background. Palate: A gentle arrival with sweet cereal as the main character. There's some orange notes, dark malt and a herbal presence in the development but unfortunately it has a watery and weak personality. You can sense the presence of good sherry casks through a fresh woody note and some crisp spice, but their contribution is weak and diffuse. Finish: Short. Malty, but it tails off very quickly into a nondescript and mildly tannic aftertaste with a tiny lingering memory of smoke. Instantly recognisable as Highland Park, but in a soft and cosy form. Less briskly fresh than the 10 or 12 year old expressions, and way less complex than the 18. It starts out well but in every stage of tasting it drops down a notch until bottoming-out with a very short finish. The nose is light and soft but good, however the palate does not quite live up to its obvious potential. 40% was absurdly too weak a strength for such an understated whisky profile - at 46% this would have been a considerably better dram. The finish is frustratingly short - one of the fastest finishes I've ever tasted on an HP. This is another of the seemingly endless Viking hero/ethos/culture series that have emerged from this distillery over the last few years. Sigh. I dream of the day when Edrington puts this marketing strategy behind them and lets the distillery knuckle down to just making the best possible age statement whiskies it can. The official tasting notes here are accurate but 79 is a harsh score for this pleasant dram which, with all it's shortcomings, is still better than average quality. Tasted from a 30ml sampler. "Above Average" : 81/100 (3 stars)

Reviewing another in the Highland Park Warrior Series. Svein is the first of the six in the travel retail exclusive line. Bottled at 40% ABV and is chill filtered and, like all HPs, this is natural color, amber gold. This is the third one I’ve reviewed, the others being Harald and Einar. The nose has big time citrus notes of lemon, orange and a little grapefruit. Heather honey and heather peat. Malty, a bit of an alcohol nip even at 40%. Oak, barley sugar, toffee and butterscotch. Pecans, hazelnut with a pinch of salt and a whiff of black tea. Slightly smoky, like a campfire from 2 campsites away. A thread of savory sherry running throughout, as well as some chocolate and creamy vanilla. The palate has a semisweet arrival with barley sugar, honey and lots of toffee. A little sherry sweetness, but also some bitterness as well to help balance things out. Tropical fruits of tangerines, pineapple, coconut and mango. Chocolate covered almonds, oak, a touch earthy, light peat but no smoke until you let it sit a good long while. A fairly light bodied mouthfeel that is creamy and tongue coating. The finish is medium length with tropical fruits, light peat and light sherry. This is a good value scotch. I purchased this 1L bottle at auction for $45. I gifted it to @LeeEvolved for Christmas and he was gracious enough to send me a sample. That price and size for a HP is a good deal, plus this stuff is fairly tasty. It’s not going to punch you in the face with intense flavors, but it’s very drinkable. I could see this working well with a twist of orange peel and a dash of bitters over ice. 3.25 Cheers

Another expression from the travel retail "Warrior Series", this Highland Park tells the story of Sveinn Asleifarson, a pirate and mercenary viking who was powerful and known to be fair, while he raided the hebridean isles of Scotland. Bottled at 40%abv, tawny color. On the nose it is very nice, with earthy peaty notes. Burnt hay, horse stable, cigarrettes, ashtray, vanilla, burnt brownie crest. After the first sip, the aroma changed into burnt popcorn. The palate is cold, that i did not expect. Very herbal and medicinal; some citric notes rise after a couple of seconds. Pepper. A second sip felt like i dropped ice on the dram, it is very cold!. Vanilla ice cream. Aftertaste was very simple. Dry and grassy. Burnt grass, hay and sulphuric notes. Overall, i think this is an interesting, yet normal whisky. The cold feeling on the palate was very appealing, i really like finding this kind of notes on my whiskies. My score for it is 84 over 100.

Creme Brulee, Orange peel, mild earthy smoke, honeyed viscosity...I like it. It has a bit of a short ethanolly finish however but the alcohol is in balance overall with the rest of the components. It's just over $50USD here in NZ. This is my seventh from this distillery and amazingly this is the only distillery I have never rated less than a 4 on distiller (with more than a few drams tried). Middleton comes a close 2nd with one 3.5 that really could have gone up rather than down. Also amazingly I never considered them in my top 10 but really it should be in the top handful. I think I just really like the overall style and balance of their whiskies. 3.75 and yet another 4.

Tasted next to the Alaskan waters Nose - sweetness here Taste - a hint of peat, light notes of floral and maybe a bit of fruit Finish - smooth, short length with some honey and a quick hit of smoke on the back end of this Score - 3.0, not strong in any which way, short flavors everywhere Scoring Legend 5.0 - Outstanding, unmatched to others 4.5 - Excellent, I will always keep a bottle in stock if possible 4.0 - Very good, quite enjoyable to drink, can consider as a solid choice 3.5 - Good, would taste again 3.0 - Average 2.5 - Acceptable, still drinkable 2.0 - Inferior, able to drink but not enjoyable 1.5 and below—wouldn’t drink again unless I am desperate