Highland Park Valkyrie

Back in October @cascode was gracious enough to send me a dram of the Valknut. I enjoyed that intense and complex pour greatly. I was excited then to get my hands on the first in the ‘Val’ series, the Valkyrie. Only Valfather escapes me now. According to Norse mythology, Valkyries would descend onto the battlefields to find the best and bravest warriors and give them passage to Valhalla. A little digging and I can see that these three offerings use an unlisted higher contribution of the distillery's floor-malted barley than the usual 20% floor-malted to 80% externally-sourced barley. I think everything else is typical HP; American and European oak sherry casks and American oak ex-bourbon casks, and refill casks. Right enough jabbering, time for me to be carried off by Tessa Thompson,. N: Gentle and inviting with an understated maritime character. Chocolate is the first discrete note I find along with honey and apricot. The beautiful signature HP floral smoke rolls on in and blends together creating a lovely balanced profile. With time in the glass there is some sherry presence but the smoke also builds to a pleasant forcefulness and takes on an ashiness also. Even more time an I do find some wood spice, but I have really had to work to find that, worth it though, really good; freshly waxed and polished oak. P: Thick, full and immediately thick with ashy smoke. Behind the thick smoke curtain are initially wood spice followed by chocolate and toffee with gingery tingle to peppery spice. As the smoke builds the ashy character drops away and allows some fruity sweetness to come out; dried apple rings, plum, and maybe some bitter orange or marmalade? As things develop and meld with subsequent tastes a fudgy creamy texture takes over. Can you get smoke flavoured chocolate marmalade fudge? If not, HP should make it and give me a cut of the profits; thats what this is. F: Medium-short. Creamy texture with warming pepper, chocolate, wood spice and the constance of smoke. I feel like my HP tastings are starting to be the same? Is that just me, I can’t tell any more. Perhaps, I have died at the battlefield of drams and been carried off by a Valkyrie after all? Alternately, maybe I am just dialling into the excellence at the core of a very heavily stacked set of offerings by the team on Orkney? There is much heavier weight to the smoke in Valkyrie, but it also feels different to the standard age statement smoke. Here, things feel heavy and ashy. In the core age range, things culminate at the 18 as floral, light, and delicate - it’s here where I think HP really shine. Despite smoke being heavy and ashy here in Valkyrie, it’s not overbearing. The whole pour is well balanced by the fruity and the woody\winey notes. I’m happy. I’d be happier if Tessa could come take me to the Valfather now! [Pictured here with another Viking themed rock, this time a 440-400 million year old dunite from Åheim, Norway. This green blob is almost pure olivine and representative of the upper mantle after basalt has been extracted] Distiller whisky taste #135 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

As a follow-up to my HP Valknut review, I've got here a review of its predecessor, the Valkyrie. My experience with the Valknut was interesting. Loved it when I cracked it. Disliked it when I reviewed it initially, though I was sick. Re-reviewed and found out it was above average. Interesting. Now I've got entry #1 in what I'm calling the "Valk series." I've had a much more consistent experience with them. I have no idea how much of the bottle I've worked through thanks to the opaque black bottle, but judging by the weight I'd say I'm about midway through. Nose: Creamy custard and sherry notes like cranberry, orange, raisin, fig, date, and apricot. Caramel and vanilla, with a bit of sulfur. Some toffee and a bit of sea salt. Low on the smoke and peat, though there is a slight maritime quality. Palate: Plenty of sulfur, cranberry, apricot, and orange. Toffee, caramel, vanilla, and milk chocolate. Once again, a bit of sea salt. Background peat. HP claims this is above average ppm, and while I detect a bit, I'd have guessed the opposite. Instead I get a cross between dry red fruit, citrus fruit, and a bit of dessert sweetness. A bit of cinnamon and baking spice heat. Finish: A touch of smoke followed some dry fruit and milk chocolate. All cinnamon and pepper for the duration of a short-moderate finish. *I'm back roughly a half a year later. Toward the bottom of the bottle. The notes are similar but the length of the finish is much greater. Adds some orange, apricot, and peach notes. Moderate-to-long. Much more exaggerated notes and punch, in a good way. Overall, I'd say it's a solid NAS Scotch. Worth $80? Eh. Not really. But it's well-balanced, and plenty interesting. HP played it straight with this one unlike the risky and somewhat volatile Valknut. This one made less of an impact than the latter, but I give it points for consistency. I think the two expressions are, ultimately, equal, for very different reasons. I'll be buying the Valkfather to compare. The "Valk Series" is in no way exceptional but I do find it compelling for some reason. Not exactly a glowing review, I know. But there is a lot to like here. HP gets a lot of flack for the Viking theme and the prolific of output of subpar NAS products. This one does not fall into that category. This one was hard to review. I may have to come back to this one. Conclusion? My rating perfectly matches the Distiller user average of 3.75. Good but not great. Glad we're in agreement on this one. *Bumped up to 4 flat roughly a half a year later due to the improvement to the finish. Strong nose, dips a bit on the palate, and comes roaring back on the finish.

The nose is full of smoke and brine, giving the drink and air of Viking manliness. Upon taking a sip, there is considerable depth, with tobacco and brine fighting to overcome the sweetness of grog. Although they ultimately win, the purity of vanilla remains briefly before the tobacco swallows it up. The complexity of this scotch is delightful. The flavor is rich with a hidden, toffee sweetness throughout that makes one think of some benevolent being overseeing the conflict below. Do not underestimate this scotch. Under most circumstances it adds something interesting and refreshing to the party. It is a bit odd and the depth could be greater, but this is a great Scotch. I particularly appreciate that despite its spring flavor, it is possible to drink another liquor that is not based on peat after it. Most of its quality comes from its unique combination of smoke, peat, salt, brine, and sweetness, but the fact that all of those flavors are distinguishable and exist in harmony makes this a great success. More variation over its life would be nice, but this is a terrific drink. Compared with an Islay Scotch, it has a creamy toffee sweetness with a smoky richness and some salty sea spray that makes a big and unique impression. It's sort of like (emphasis on "sort of") Springbank 10 with a sweeter body and finish, punchier flavors, and a bit less complexity. I really enjoy it. It smells smoky and fruity with a nice balanced sweetness. Drinking it, the smoke and the fruit come out with minerals and plenty of vanilla and floral elements that just skirt tasting like gross bread. There's peat, but the smoke is terrific with its chocolatey flavor. There is some spicy harshness that does blend a bit with alcohol unfortunately. This is rich and tasty. While it does need some polish, it's very good whiskey that reminds me of Highland Park The Dark at a fraction of the price with a bit less balance and more playfulness. The harshness and tartness do eventually become a bit overwhelming though. It lacks the nectar quality of Highland Park 18, but is still great.

Nose: Oloroso sherry, maritime brine, fresh-cut hay, demerara sugar, cardamom, cumin, ginger, fenugreek, cinnamon and mint. There is a smoky note but it is initially hidden by a spirity, ethanol presence. This dissipates fairly quickly resulting in a sweet nose, but it’s spicy sweet and the signature Highland Park orange aromas are missing in action. The addition of water evolves more herbal notes. Palate: A spicy, briny arrival with tannins, ginger and pepper being prominent. Salt-water taffy, marmalade and currents in the development. The texture is full, a little drying but oily. The smoke notes begin in the early development and are quite prominent. A dash of water softens the palate and brings out further vegetal and herbal notes but also finds otherwise hidden orange liqueur flavours. Water also modulates the texture and profile making the whisky creamier and sweeter. Finish: Medium/long. Herbal, smoky, woody and spicy with soft tannins in the aftertaste. Water makes the finish softer and sweeter. A big whisky to finish today’s lineup of six Highland Parks, but for me this was the least impressive of the bunch. It’s certainly a demonstrative whisky but I felt it exchanged the nuance and fruity juiciness common to all the other expressions for rather ordinary spice notes, and consequently it seems a little simplistic and inferior in profile. This was the only whisky of the day where I felt water was required, and in my opinion the dram was much improved by dilution. It’s by no means a bad whisky, in fact it is a good one, but not one that is to my taste and I would not want to buy a bottle. I also found the official tasting notes curious and very different to my experience (for what that’s worth). Tasted from a 30ml sample. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Nose: You get the typical Highland Park profile with tons of delicious red apples, nutmeg, cinnamon and very slight cardamom. In the back, you have some custard and angel's food cake. Some light smoke and ash are present. I find that the ash (not the smoke) clashes a bit weirdly. Palate: Powerful taste with the red apples and raisins, a strong spicy punch with a ton of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and general oak spice. The spices are much more present than the smell let on. The custard and angel's food cake like notes I've picked are still there with the egg-like flavors being more present than in the smell. A little salty. Again, the smoke and ash are there, not being the biggest fan of the ash. Mouthfeel: Medium body with some oiliness. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Finish: Smoky, spicy, vanilla custard, light chocolate and a little salty. Longer than expected and maybe the highlight of this dram. Overall: This is a very nice fruity and smoky whisky. You get quite a bit of oak spice from the older whiskies in this "blend" and some edginess from the younger ones. This is powerful whisky that feels a bit higher proof than what it is. Still, I find the ash a bit distracting and would have score this a bit higher if it weren't for that.

I think this is one of the most interesting drams i have ever tasted. It is not necessarily the best whisky, but it is amazing. Bottled at 45.9% abv with a deep gold color. Remember i once told you that Highland Park has the best marketing in their bottles? This is no exception. The name "Valkyrie" comes from nordic "angels" that comb the battlefields to pick up the best dead warriors and let them enter the Viking heaven called "Valhalla". How do you like that story? Well, the dram is a battlefield also. The nose is simply overwhelming, with an inmense peaty note, like a fireplace or a barbecue, roasted meat nose appear, some balsamic oil and salt. Spectacular. On the palate is very oily, i think is a young whisky but the flavor is intense. Lots of spices: pepper, liquorice, a bitter note, ashes, hard blocks of salt, full mouth sensation. The finish is very long, it burns your insides, ashes, bonfire, gunpowder. Amazing. Overall i give this dram a 99/100 and the point deduction comes from the burn sensation in the aftertaste letting me know this whisky is young, i wonder what would happen with a little more maturation. Amazing. Slainte!