Highland Park The Light 17 Year

We now arrive at the pointy end of these HP tastings. Tonight we crack into The Light, one of two special releases, the other being The Dark. Both with an age statement of 17 years, beautiful packaging and a seemingly outrageous price of AUD$399.99. Given the standard 18 is exceptional and only AUD$250, there had better be something special inside the Light and Dark. The Light was created to celebrate warm summer days in Orkney - or so say HP marketing. From the HP website “Made to honour a time when we emerge from winter hibernation, ready to embrace the fresh air, clear skies and long days of summer, the whisky is light and bright. Its delicious warm-season-friendly palate is the result of 17 years' maturation in refill American oak casks, which have a more gentle influence than first-fill European oak casks… Orcadian Summer in a bottle. N: Yes, floral peat is forward and just excellent! There is vibrant citrus, crisp juicy apple, honied malt, a tiny bit of toasty wood and some background wood spice. P: Good viscosity balancing the line between oily and creamy. Vibrant and tongue tickling fruit salad of mango, banana and peach with extra sweetness from hard candy pear drops. Restrained perfumed wood (sandalwood/cedarwood? I can never tell the difference) rides with the honey-malt cereals which fade to a soft butterscotch. Through everything the peat is a ghostly touch with a perfumed-floral and slightly peppery influence. Adding water does nothing for me but mute everything into a longer, but milder and less pronounced imposter of itself. F: Long. Oily to waxy and laden with pepper, citrus peel a building smoke and background biscuit note. Brilliant stuff. Clean, sharp, bright, and superbly executed. If this is an Orkney Summer bottled then thats where I want to over summer. I have said over the last several HP tastes I have written that the standout for me from HP is the floral peat on the nose, when that carries over to the palate they are just fantastic. This light is not a competitor to the 18 but rather stands alongside it. The sherry influence isn’t here in the Light, this is absolutely just about the heather and the malt and they are showcased extremely well. The downside though, is this is perhaps a touch simple and lacking some more interest and character. I’d also hazard to say that despite how summery and the money that marketing is, and how wonderful the box is; the Light is overpriced when you know the 18 exists, even if they are not direct competitors the 18 is just too good to let this take the (spot)light. [Pictured here with this drams viking themed rock a garnet-pyroxenite from the Bergen Arc near Holsnøy in Norway. This rock is an ultramafic representative of some really complex mantle geology that occurred during shearing of a subjected slab of oceanic crust during the Caledonian Orogeny ~500-440 million years ago.] ⁣ Distiller whisky taste #141 HP Running ranking (mostly for my benefit): 10: 3.75 12: 4 15: 4.25 18: 4.75 25: 4.75 Valknut: 4.25 Valkyrie: 4.25 Dragon Legend: 3.25 Voyage of the Raven: 3.5 Spirit of the Bear: 3.25 Loyalty of the Wolf: 2.75 Wings of the Eagle: 4 The Light: 4.25

Nose: Light, almost ethereal malt with a citrus tang. Vanilla, green apple, the brine that mussels come packed in. Highland Park's honey-sweet signature is there but in a subtle manner. No trace of peat smoke at all but maybe a suggestion of barrel-char. The nose starts off quite austere but expands when the dram is allowed to rest in the glass for a while. It relaxes and deepens even more with the addition of a dash of water. Palate: Sweet, crisp malt and some definite smoke on the arrival. Tangy, bittersweet citrus (yellow grapefruit, sour orange) appear rapidly as it develops and this becomes a major facet of the palate. There are grassy herbal notes and fruit salad, but the fruits are all not quite sweet – sometimes bordering on astringent. Seashore and mineralic tastes with oysters, brine and a little white pepper. Adding water considerably softens the profile and brings out a touch more ashy smoke and barley-sugar notes which support the bright fruits excellently. The texture is creamy and has good weight both neat and when reduced. Finish: Medium/Long. Crisp unripe fruits trailing into chocolate and a distant memory of peat smoke. The profile of the finish is little changed by reduction but water does extend the length. An unusual Highland Park that it is all bourbon-cask matured and so lacks some of the usual heavier features of the distillery’s whisky profile. It’s quite medicinal and coastal in both nose and palate, and it reminded me of non-peated Caol Ila. There is a sharp, crystalline quality throughout and I thought it was refreshing and reviving when neat but more approachable with just a small dash of water. I added water after two neat nosings and sips and discovered that the longer I left the dram to rest the more I enjoyed it. Whether this was just me becoming accustomed to the profile or whether it was oxidation etc. I can’t say, but I did think it improved over time. Tasted from a 30ml sample. This is very good whisky (bordering on “excellent”) but beware that if you prefer your Highland Park with sherry-wood maturation you will probably think that this is too tangy and sharp. “Very Good” : 87/100 (4.25 stars)

I loved The Dark; otherwise I would not be writing this, because this cost a pretty penny. I was given The Dark in a tasting by a liquor rep that I know, so I knew what I was getting into when I bought it. And I was referred to this one by my positive experience with its sister bottle. Let’s see if I the other side of coin measures up. Nose: Peat and sulfur. Caramel, saltwater taffy, and vanilla. Floral notes. Apple, pear, and grape. Almond macadamia, and walnut. Light black bean, red pepper chili. Clove, nutmeg, white pepper, cinnamon, and oak. Palate: Salwater taffy and caramel. Pineapple, coconut, gala apple, pear, and apricot. Peanut/almond butter. Marshmallow, vanilla, toffee, and malt. A bit of custard. Very light peat presence. Clementine and orange. Finish: Plenty of heat. Clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and white pepper. Earthy peat. Some of the apple, pear, pineapple, and apricot as well. Almond, macadamia, and walnut. Oak. What to say about this one? It’s an amazingly clean whisky. Perhaps too clean. The nose was practically non-existent, I had to really concentrate just to pull enough notes have a description. The body and finish were much better and had more character. Not a bad foil to The Dark, but definitely not the better option of the two, either. At $300, expectations were high. So while it may sound like I’m beating this one up, a lot of my disappointment is just a derivative of the high bar—especially when it’s impossible to separate this from its counterpart in my mind. It lives up to its moniker “The Light” and does enough to avoid being dubbed “The Lightweight.” Remarkably refreshing at 52.9%. Well-balanced. 3.5/5.

The nose is just alcohol. The honeyed apricot sweetness is nice. It reminds me of Bushmill's 21 but much stronger. There is a bit of stale bread, bit it isn't too bad. There is a bit of richness hanging out in the back, but it's just enough to make the drink a bit nuttier. There is some spice and the alcohol is a bit noticeable, but the flavor is still good. It's not extraordinarily complex, but it is quite good in terms of general flavor. The individual flavors are great and there is no masking of them in here. The flavors are quite good, but a bit mild and not terribly complex. It's kind of light tasting. It has a some mineral and gross bread mixed with honey, smoke, and some peat. It's actually a good balance that ties some elements that aren't usually all that great together. The complexity is nice and it has a good amount of character. This is the most successful gross bread flavor I've ever encountered. There are hints of pear and orange blossom too that are quite lovely and there is some nice salty sea spray and a surprisingly harsh (but still quite moderate) spice. The spice is more peppery (a mix of white herbalness and black richness) than cinnamony. There is some cask in here, but not a tremendous amount for a 17 year old drink. It sure isn't a wussy drink, despite its mild flavors. Valkyrie would have been a great name for this one. This is really a delightful drink, but it is not mind-blowing and is not worth the high price. For $100, it might be worth buying.

Almost everything that Highland Park does is great. The most northern of Scotland's distilleries are also known for their amazing marketing, and "collections", from the vikings to the smugglers (who were also vikings), this is one of my favorite distilleries. This time i am reviewing Highland Park 17yo The Light, one of a two bottle collection, (the other one is "the Dark") which are inspired in the seasons on Orkney. This one of course represents spring and summer. Bottled at 52.9%abv we can expect lots of flavors. On the nose, it is citric and slightly peaty. Artificial tangerine notes, Artificial orange also. A dim Highland Park traditional peat. Burnt grass. Nice aroma; Lemon and after breathing a slight chocolate note comes up. On the palate it gets very mineral and salty. Coastal, Earthy. Mostly mineral and coastal to reveal a chocolate explosión on the finish. After first two sips vanilla is felt, since your mouth get used to the peatiness and the minerals. Finish is lovely. Chocolate with peat and ashy spiceness. Incredible aftertaste. Burns your lips nicely as any other hp. Overall this is a beautiful dram. A little expensive, but it is a lovely bottle with some nice juice on it. My score for it is 94 over 100.

Nose - (w/o water) Light smoke, fresh pears, hay, light floral honey, hint of salt (w/ water) Smoke is almost gone, pears, hay/grass, honey Taste - (w/o water) Light smoke, pears, hint of caramel, light honey, light salt, lightly drying, white pepper spice/heat (w/ water) Light smoke re-appears, more black pepper than white pepper tingle, light oaky bitterness comes out in addition to the same flavors w/o water Finish - (w/o water) Light tingle/heat, lingering light smoke, golden simple sugar, hints of pear, honey, lemon zest (w/ water) Light tingle/heat still, hint of oaky bitterness, pear, honey, salt, lemon zest Score - 82/100 Final Thoughts - This surprisingly drank well below its proof. The nose wasn't too punchy for the proof. Nice balance of smoke, fruit, & sweet. Addition of water softened the nose a bit, but brought out some oaky bitterness that wasn't bad, but a tad distracting. I think this one is tasty and I could see myself reaching for this every once in a while, but not at what it's priced at. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - No Would I buy a bottle? - No