North Star - Island Star 11 years - Millennial Range

North Star Spirits recently won the title of Independent bottler of the year at the 2020 Scottish Whisky Awards. They seem to have a good work ethos, try and keep some of their releases affordable and like to experiment.

They released this Millennial range late in 2018, the idea being to offer a range of affordable single malts highlighting the different regions. While they are often single casks they are bottled at 50% ABV allowing for a larger outturn.

This one is named Island Star while it is unnamed the coordinates on the bottle bring you to Orkney and there's only one distillery that is readily supplying casks to independents, that's Highland Park.

Nose: Slightly feinty, lemon lozenges, vegetable oils (linseed, untoasted sesame), carnauba wax, spinach/grassy, chalk and some coastal notes (shellfish, pebbles).

Palate: Paraffin, candied pineapple, lemon rind, wet paper, very ale/grain forward mid-palate, then becomes almost sweet vegetal (spinach & honey?)

Finish: Finishes almost gin like, on juniper, petit-grain, lemon/orange blossom water, white flowers & then a touch smoky like wet coals.

Wah-Wah: This must have been from an Nth refill hogshead because even after 11 years this things is spirity and still raw. There are brilliant moments, the almost tropical fruit notes and the interplay between waxy/vegetal/sweet is nice but it's too rough to enjoy regularly. It's a good learning experience but not something I'd reach for on a regular basis.