Highland Park 18yo 43% abv

Info: Lightly peated whisky from Orkney.
Colour: Medium to light gold with clear tints.
Nose: Light puffs of well aged floral peat smoke mingle with rich oaky notes and barley. There’s tannins and some older autumnal fruits along with drops of honey.
Palate: The palate is smooth and easy to get into with some spices that build gently. There’s a constant backdrop of oak along with barley, and that floral peat which is light but gives everything a nice depth. At the back is those honeyed stewed autumnal fruits.
Finish: The finish is warming on your chest and lasts for quite a long time with a sweet, herbal edge to it.
Thoughts: This is often talked about amongst whisky lovers as one of the finest malts out there, and for £100 you’d imagine that to be so. It is indeed a great whisky, but I built it up a little too much in my mind (and spoiled myself with even older ones in the range, the 25yo being a true favourite of mine). It’d be great if this had a slightly thicker mouthfeel (i.e. 46%), but even without out it’s a lovely whisky for a nice evening in. It’s quite expensive, I guess that’s the pressures of demand and supply on a popular malt.
Available: Master of Malt – £97.80

Thanks to my friend Jon over at Scotch and Sci-Fi for the sample.