NAS Whisky Discussion

@MadSingleMalt, for a mere extra 15 bucks, you get vikings. Such a deal.

Surely adding the word 'viking' to any label makes the whisky worth an extra $ 15.

Well, the vikings were known to rape and pillage. Seems quite fitting if you ask me.

@Victor I imagine the "12" will disappear from the label next and we'll be stuck with that completely undistinguished 10 year old as the only entry level age stated offering.

@BlueNote Highland Park have tested the market with an 8 year old recently.

@Frost If that is a 48- 50% 8 year old it might be good stuff, like the recent Lag 8, but if it's 40% ABV then the downward slide continues.

@BlueNote I'm positive it was 40% - and a rather underwhelming dram

@BlueNote I pulled the trigger too fast on my post, it's a 10 year old @40% - not an 8 year OB

@Frost Yeah, that's the one I tried. I'm hoping they are not planning to replace the 12 with that weakling.

@BlueNote I don't want to believe that Highland Park would discontinue their 12 Year Old Malt. It's one of the best all-around 12 year old malts on the market, imho.

@OdysseusUnbound Agreed.

They recently released new bottles/labels for their range - if they were going to put the 12yo on pause it likely would've been then, no?

Also, on my recent foray to Scotland I saw the new HP12 bottlings on the shelves in shops and they were the same price as the older ones beside them (approx $50cad). If a shop is charging $15 more that would seem to be their own doing.

I really like HP 12, so I went and emailed Highland Park about it. They got back to me much quicker than any other distillery ever has. Here's what they said:

Dear Joel, Many thanks for your email to Highland Park. I can categorically confirm we have no intention to discontinue our 12yo, it is our award winning, key expression on our range.

Seems pretty straightforward. Phew!

@OdysseusUnbound , nice work!

@nooch , despite all that, I'm afraid many brands (though not HP, as far as I know) do have a history or gradually eroding and then removing the age guarantees on their labels over time. At least, this has been the recent history of many bourbons and other American whiskies. I believe Sku's old excellent-but-not-defunct blog ("Sku's Recent Eats") probably has the best record of those shenanigans, if you're so inclined to dig them up. But the short story in many cases was that the brand would "demote" the age info to the bottom of the label or the back of the bottle in lieu of some silly "idea" instead (Vikings, anyone?), and then later remove that age info altogether.

In the world of scotch single malt, a similar story happened with the Glenfarclas 105, which lost its 10-year age statement recently.

So while the assurances reported by @OdysseusUnbound are nice, they don't really mean anything. A company will always do whatever they think will make them the most money, regardless if they once said something different in an email to some guy. If you'd be sad for any of the current age-stated HPs to disappear, I think you'd be wise to put aside a couple today. At least, that's how I read the signs.

@MadSingleMalt I agree. Might have to tuck a few in the back of the bunker just in case.

I'm not really a big HP fan myself, so my sorrow over lost age statements (if it happens) will be entirely intellectual, and not personal. I have one HP18 in the stash that I got a great deal on and will be happen to open with my club in the coming year, but beyond that they don't really do that much for me. If they bumped to a more respectable ABV, I could muster the will to care.

All that said, though, the main reason I'm replying here is to correct a typo in my last post above: Sku's old blog is excellent but NOW defunct. Big difference between "not" and "now"! :)

@MadSingleMalt, it is sad to lose Sku's ongoing blog, a voice of sanity amidst a lot of drivel. I doubt that anyone else is going to keep up his ongoing list of new US distilleries, typically 12-15 per month over the last several years.

@MadSingleMalt Are you implying that I'm just "some guy"? I'm kind of a big deal, you know. My blog entries regularly get 80-100 views

But seriously...I AM a fan of HP 12. It's not everyone's favourite, but I've had a soft spot for it for awhile. I wasn't as blown away with the 18. It's good, I like it, but at $200/bottle it's not worth it to me. And I don't really feel like I'm missing out.

@OdysseusUnbound I agree. The 12 is an all around, good bang for buck, everyday dram. The 18 is now off the menu unless it suddenly appears somewhere at something less than 150 bucks.

@nooch , Serge on WhiskyFun today entertains the same suspicion we did about the Viking stuff someday replacing the age statements in the HP range:

whiskyfun.com

@MadSingleMalt I will publicly take them to task if they drop the age statement in favour of the Viking schtick. I've kept the email, and my blog posts now regularly get 200+ views...and I'm sure not ALL of them are supportive family members...Look out !

Highland Park shall know no fury like an @OdysseusUnbound scorned.

@OdysseusUnbound I see Serge reviewed the newly branded 12 year old called Viking Honour today and it still has the 12 year old age statement. He did express some concern that the 12 might disappear from the label sometime in the future.

@BlueNote , you don't say? :)

@MadSingleMalt did you see Serge's review of the 12? He has similar concerns as you raise.

@Nozinan , wait—have you told @BlueNote about this? Or @OdysseusUnbound?

Someone should really post something here about that.

@MadSingleMalt I might have to start re-reading earlier posts before leaping in

@BlueNote Or not...more fun this way.

@MadSingleMalt Just don't forget that I'm Canadian. So I'll likely be facetious, self-deprecating and eminently polite, even in expressing my disapproval.

@OdysseusUnbound Sorry.