Highland Park Tweet Tasting - #HPWarriorTT
We were excited to be involved in the recent online Twitter tasting, hosted by The Whisky Wire. It's always a well organised night with a nice selection of drams to sample so we were really looking forward to this one. Highland Park was the subject, samples had been received; a generous selection from their Travel Retail range, The Warrior series...The Warrior Series is a range of six single malts whiskies created to showcase the very best of Highland Park. Highland Park has strong Viking roots and this is celebrated throughout the collection.
We were tasting all six expressions from Highland Park's Warrior series, comprising of the first trio of releases; Svein, Einar, Harald, along with the latest concluding bottling’s Sigurd, Ragnvald and Thorfinn.
Highland Park The Warrior Series - #HPWarriorTT
Probably the best graphic ever, showing the levels of wood ratio used to mature each bottling...Highland Park Svein / 40% ABV / Travel Retail Exclusive "As well as being a hardened, battle-scarred warrior, Svein’s reputation for hospitality showed no bounds"
Nose: Soft & rather gentle, sweet honey, oak, hint of peat & orange peel. Fruit notes coming on now, dried pineapple, apple and citrus. A whiff of maltiness notes linger..
Palate: Again really smooth, beautiful peat notes.. Easy drinker! Quite creamy, oak, white pepper, not as sweet as the nose, love how the peat lingers... Rather tingly on the palate.
Finish: Fresh, soft oak. Peat lingers nicely.
Highland Park Einar / 40% ABV / Travel Retail Exclusive "Einar was crafted as a tribute to one of the most feared and ruthless Vikings of his time."
Nose: Quite similar to Svein but the flavours feel more darker, deeper & stronger. Again lovely smokey, followed by citrus peel, sweet, warm spice, hint of chocolate raisin, a slight vanilla note along with a touch of tobacco.
Palate: A burst of smoke at first then some apricot, citrus peel & vanilla. Lovely depth on the palate, leather, smoke & tobacco, warm spice.
Finish: Tobacco, spice, oak & vanilla.
Highland Park Harald / 40% ABV / Travel Retail Exclusive "King Harald was famed for his army, which was revered across the world at that time. The most feared of his troops were known as 'berserkers"
Nose: Harald takes a while to open up, notes softening with time. Ginger, a lot! Vanilla, smoke, oak & orange peel. Christmas spices, raisin & sultanas.
Palate: Rather tame of the palate in terms of flavour. Pepper notes coat the mouth well... Spice, hints of chocolate raisin bar. After while it feels rather briny. Dirty Martini comes to mind
Finish: Light pepper, smoke & a little orange zest.
Highland Park Sigurd / 43% ABV / Travel Retail Exclusive "Sigurd is considered amongst the strongest & most courageous warriors and ultimately one of the most feared Viking Earls"
Nose: Toffee apples, dark fruits - alcohol matured cherries/plums. A light note of liquorice. Subtle smoke, tropical notes coming through, nutty, almond. A well structured, complex nose on this dram.
Palate: Lovely flavours, sweet smoke, toffee, warmed spice coat the palate nicely. Really enjoying the fulness of this dram. The extra abv helps... Dark chocolate & cherry.
Finish: Sweet smoke, muscavado sugar & Kirsch.
Highland Park Ragnvald / 44.6% ABV / Travel Retail Exclusive "Ragnvald was most at home aboard his longship undertaking his many great expeditions throughout the Middle East & Asia"
Nose: Lovely deep & developed nose. Cured, smoked meat & tobacco. Vintage wood that's just been polished....'Waxy'. Warmed spices coming through mixed with dark cherry... cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves.
Palate: Yes! What an abundance of flavours. Beautiful. Slightly salty but in a great way, balances it well. Tobacco, spice, oak, pepper, cherry mixed with smoked parma ham, sherry notes, peat, vanilla! I could go on, great balance of wonderful flavours.
Finish: Leaves the mouth coated with wonderful smoky deep flavours. My type of dram...
Highland Park Thorfinn / 45.1% ABV / Travel Retail Exclusive "Thorfinn was a man of much power and influence, who at one stage controlled the whole of the Orkney Islands"
Nose: Spice, christmas tree, polishing cloth, eucalyptus, cedar wood & dark chocolate. Smokey notes, hints of tropical fruit.
Palate: Rather fresh at first but here comes the smoke, a bold consistent smoke, giving the mouth a big coating. Spice, eucalyptus, touch of leather. A little fruitiness, dark plums & cherry arriving towards the end.
Finish: Menthol, dark cheery, smoke & spice.
A great evening of drams, thanks to Highland Park for the samples and as ever to Steve Rush from The Whisky Wire for organising another great night...
Highlight, whisky of the night - Ragnvald.
Slainte
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