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. 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.

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. On the other hand we see dark sherry bottlings of 10 or less years by independent bottlers like the Edradour 10s in The Un-Chillfilterden Collection. Cheers William, I wasn't aware or this one. I wonder if they will put it on offer in the run up to Christmas. 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. 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...

Highland Park 12 – review

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. But as you can not hurry nature cheaply produced seasoned casks will give you a cheap quality sherried whisky. The oak spice and alcohol strength only really come into their own on the finale here. Those warm baking spices only seemed slight on the nose, then they started to amp up in the mouth and they just continue to grow as the liquid slips on down. We may, but are not under any obligation, to release new functionalities and tools or other features for the Service every now and then. Any new functionalities, tools and features shall be part of and governed by the Terms from the moment they are launched and/or available. Further, we reserve the right to modify, change, discontinue the Service, add or remove features, update the Service, change its appearance, temporarily and permanently, at any time, in whole or any part thereof. Overall, I think, contemporary HPs would get a better rep if they were all bottled at 46%. Being bottled at 40% mutes the different layers and all-roundedness HP has. I do wish more drinkers would call out Edrington so they’d improve the quality of their new releases.

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. Modern sherry casks are more like casks seasoned with sherry (usually Oloroso or PX) so they can be filled with spirits. The real and old sherry casks were casks that repeatedly held sherry in them for years. Decades even. Wine casks are usually held in Puncheons or Butts. But if you look at some single casks you’ll see hogsheads now.

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’.