Highland Park Viking Tribe Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 70cl

Product Information

Highland Park have maintained that it is the same liquid / recipe in these remaining classic age statements, and so we find ourselves looking at the eldest of the core range aged siblings, featuring HP spirit that has been predominantly matured in first-fill sherry seasoned European and American oak casks, aged for at least 18 years, and then married together and captured here at 43% ABV. Highland Park Viking Tribe is a permanent new addition to the extensive Orkney distillery’s range, sitting alongside Highland Park 12 Year Old and Dragon Legend as the brand’s entry-level expressions. I’ve been waiting to get my hands on my own bottle of this for some time, and so, with a firm favourite and some, ahem, Viking Pride at stake, here we go… Viking Pride – Warrior Sky The Service has been prepared by us solely for information purposes to Members and the Service is based on information we consider reliable and we obtain the contents of the Service from a number of different third party sources (including Contributions), but we do not endorse, support, represent, warrant or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of the Services and any information therein. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, the remainder of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect.

Anyone else feeling overwhelmed by the number of NAS whiskies Highland Park are coming out with? Viking Tribe, Dragon Legend, Spirit of the Bear, Valkyrie, Valknut and others in duty free... I thought Valkyrie was ok for its price, Full Volume was a fairly recent limited release which was an outstanding expression of HP IMO. Matured in refill casks and bottled at 46% abv without an age statement, Viking Tribe is described as having notes of ‘vanilla, citrus and pepper with a peaty edge’.Its introduction to the distillery’s range follows last year’s complete brand overhaul, which saw the introduction of several new expressions. I’m not going to waste anymore time on this. Viking Honour (VH)? I don’t see the honour in parading the diluted and chopped-up corpse of this formerly quality single malt, so I’m going to compare the previous iteration of Highland Park 12 with the Highland Park 12 Viking Honour. It isn’t a perfect comparison, though, as the previous iteration has a higher ABV. Highland Park 12 – review In all honesty I've not done my homework, and correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like they are just slapping another Viking-like word on a new bottle!

If we decide not to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms, such decision shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. Whiskybase B.V. (“Whiskybase”, “we” or “us”, company details below) offers a whisky enthusiasts online platform that provides its members access to the most comprehensive, transparent and trusted resource of whisky bottles and allows and stimulates its members to contribute information about whisky bottles to the platform (“Service”).On the nose: I get a weak scent of peat and something leathery, dry and floral. Would this be heather? They’re followed by mild scents of apples, sandpapered wood, starfruit, pears and dried apricots. There are mild scents of sulfur; next, undertones of cloves, toffee, honey and banana syrup. After that, everything suddenly falls off. The fact is, that practice has been happening for 40ish years now so I’m always surprised when people say that sherry casks now are worse than the ones from the 1990s. Maybe there are other factors at play? Maybe the duration of “seasoning” is shorter? As John said, there is a move to using hogsheads and American oak which naturally gives different flavour profiles as well. Each and every Member must be of legal drinking age in its country of residence to be allowed to use the Service. If no such law exists in a Member’s country of residence, the Member has to be over 21 years old to use the Service. We have the right to ask you to provide proof of your age and/or to provide further identification to prevent underage usage and/or for any other legal or legitimate purpose. By using the Service, and by creating an account you represent, warrant and confirm that you are of legal age. But as you can not hurry nature cheaply produced seasoned casks will give you a cheap quality sherried whisky.

The thing people often don’t realise is sherry is made through a solera system so those casks are very rarely sold on. The article’s view is that until the early 80’s, sherry was transported in barrels to the UK, these are what we called sherry casks and were used in whisky. When that practice stopped, people started buying barrels and seasoning with sherry instead to try and get the same flavour. Our Service is an online platform which provides Members with information (e.g. bottle facts, market-indices, market values and prices) on (mostly) whisky and allows Members to add information to the platform. We do not sell, nor does the Service provide any option to buy, any alcoholic products. Is it still worth paying for the contemporary HPs? I’m 50/50 on this. On one hand, it’s good for new drinkers to try, as it offers a different style, and it’s not outrageously priced. On the other hand, there are other whiskeys or spirits in the same or with a similar price point to try.

Conclusions

In 2017, the good folk at Highland Park really doubled down on promoting their Viking roots as part of their Orcadian history. The chunky, rectangular bottles were replaced with a new bottom-heavy curved design, laden with embossed markings inspired by the Viking carvings at Orkney’s Urnes Stave Church and assorted Viking paraphernalia. With that rebrand, as if the word Viking hadn’t appeared enough in this intro yet: the 10 year old became Viking Scars; the landmark 12 year old became Viking Honour; the 15 year old was dropped from the roster (presumably sent off the coast of Kirkwall in a burning Viking longboat); and the 18 year old became Viking Pride. These whiskies each appear in the main core range available from the distillers, along with frequent new and limited releases peppering the roster. Highland Park 18 – Viking Pride I thought the travel retail range now only has one NAS entry level whisky Spirit of the Bear, the other 3 whiskies that now make up the HP travel retail range now have age statements 14, 16 and 18 year old. I don't get the negativity from a couple of posters above against a whisky which no one has even tasted yet

Cheers William, I wasn't aware or this one. I wonder if they will put it on offer in the run up to Christmas.

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In the mouth: Unlike on the nose, I instantly get sulfur. It is mild and lasts the whole time but tones down throughout the tasting. There’s a mix: mild notes of sultanas, banana syrup, apple juice, honey and muscovado syrup. This combination lasts until the end, where it suddenly gets peppery. After those come undertones of cloves, toffee, milk chocolate, butterscotch and mocha. Score: 5/10 Conclusions Delicious. Need I say more? Well, yes, I should. You can’t really read about this malt of late without finding comparisons between the old style and the new style bottling. Many people have put this new 18yo down, saying its not up to the age statement’s former glory. If this is true – and sadly I only have a distant, fond and fuzzy memory of my first HP18 – then that must have been some pretty bloody amazing scotch because this is still pretty great stuff as far as these tastebuds are concerned. HP18