Highland Park 10 Year Old 1998 QV.ID

QV.ID or Cuvee Idee, a beautiful drinks retailer in Belgium, has already released a couple of whiskies under their own label. Remember that Caperdonich 1972? Let us go back to one of their first bottlings (if I am not mistaken), a 10 Year Old Highland Park. It was the second is a series of four, representing the V (from QV.ID, I mean).

The nose is aromatic and soft at the same time. It starts pretty sweet on vanilla, chocolate and fruit before the Orkney character is revealed. Cacao? Seaweeds, oysters, heather and mild peat. Brine, becoming stronger every moment. Pretty tight. Straightforward. Not complex, but it does not need it. I also get a few farmy notes as if from a goat stable. This is a good thing, mind you.

It is oily and warming on the palate. Brine is in the lead, but the vanilla and something chocolaty soon join in. Citrus too. Both oranges and lemon. White fruit as well. The peat is translated into a soft smokiness. Dangerously quaffable, which is a compliment of course.

The long finish only leaves you once it has offered up sweetness and saltiness in a wrap of smoke.

Straightforward is not synonymous for simple, let that be clear. Cardplayers whisky with class.

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