Highland Park 12 Year Old (old label)
Highland Park 12 H2H Part One: pre-Viking days
3 184
Review by @OdysseusUnbound
- Nose22
- Taste20
- Finish20
- Balance22
- Overall84
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Distribution of ratings for this:
- Brand: Highland Park
- Type: Scotch
- Region: Island
- ABV: 43%
- Batch: L0514W
I bought a bottle of the Highland Park 12 Viking whatever when it first came to Ontario's shores, reaving, ransacking, and pillaging. I had planned on getting one of the remaining non-Viking HP12 bottlings to do a H2H, but alas, I was too late, so no Ye Olde Highlande Parke for me...until @fiddich1980 got me a sample of the pre-Viking HP. Many thanks to him for the sample (from batch L0514W) whence comes this review.
Tasting Notes
- Nose (undiluted): oloroso sherry is front and center, red fruit, orange zest, cocoa powder, soft peat smoke, floral notes, like little white spring flowers (hey, I'm not a botanist)
- Palate (undiluted): gentle arrival, lots of red fruit, a touch of honey, floral peat, a bit of smoke, very rounded
- Finish: medium length, somewhat drying, milk chocolate, roasted almonds, a pronounced minerality, a touch of dry smoke lingering
With water, there's a little brine on the nose. It gets peatier on the palate and finish with water added. More so than the new Viking 12, but it's really a subtle difference.
This is (was?) a jack-of-all-trades whisky, but it was also Master of None. Pleasant, enjoyable, but not a whisky I craved or dreamed about.
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Nice H2H you've just done! I've got an Old label 12 on the go (@40% though) and would rate it pretty much as you. It's a decent whisky but, and you can probably guess what's coming, it really doesn't help itself with its presentation.
Often on sale for £25 in the UK so not a bad malt for that price.