Highland Park 12 Year Old

Highland Park 12yo
Orkney Single Malt Whisky
$42

Today I am returning from blends to the world of single malt scotch whisky. Blended whiskies are made up of a proportion of malt, produced exclusively from barley at smaller distilleries with different formulas and characters, and grain whiskies, which are mass-produced more cheaply, often from several types of grain.
Single malt whiskies, as the name implies, are distilled from 100% malted barley. The barley is allowed to germinate (the malting process) which begins to convert some of the barley's starch into sugar. The malted barley is then smoked over a fire that often uses peat smoke to give the grain a characteristic flavor. This can vary greatly between distilleries, giving the world of single malt scotch the great variety that one can find today.

The Highland Park distillery is located on Orkney, off the northern coast of mainland Scotland. It is the northernmost operating distillery in the country. They continue to malt much of their own barley, a labor-intensive process that creates a unique final product. The Orcadian climate is exceptionally harsh for Scotland, with high winds that scour the island day in and day out, and greatly influence the vegetation that is able to survive there. This makes the peat different in character from that of Islay, for example, and makes this whisky quite different from the Laphroaig I sampled earlier on the blog. Highland Park has been called the "greatest all-rounder in the world of malt whisky" by renowned critic Michael Jackson. The 18 Year Old has been named best spirit in the world by one major reviewer.
It is a component of the Famous Grouse that I tasted last time.

Nose:
Alcohol burn is more present here than in Grouse. On second try, I get honeysuckle and heather. Samuel Adams Honey Porter. Flower nectar and light smoke, like a distant fireplace on a spring morning.

Palate:
Lots of oaky sweetness. Apples, maple syrup and bourbon, with a strong smoky peat finish. Sure enough, though, this peat has none of the medicinal characteristics of the Laphroaig; this smoke is smoother and tastes less like, well, dirt.

I poured myself a bit more than I intended, but that's ok—this stuff is really good. Definitely smoky, a characteristic shared by many island whiskies, apparently. I can taste some of the similarities between this and Grouse. The blend is still a great value for enjoying more regularly, but this is the real thing. It really is a fantastically balanced whisky. Neither the peat smoke nor the sweetness of the barrel are overpowering, and there are a bunch of flavors that come in rapid succession. This is on the cheap side for single malts (compare it to anything from Islay, or most Speyside highlanders). Not a bad bottle at all, especially at the price. This one is worth a try just for a taste of Orkney heritage.