Highland Park 18 review. This is the bottle that knows exactly who is buying it: someone who already likes the 12 and the 15, has a bonus coming, and wants to feel the money. It is not a cynical product, which is the nicest thing I can say about a £128 whisky.
Eighteen years, 43%, a high proportion of first-fill sherry-seasoned oak, European and American, and the smoke turned down to a murmur. Whether that is worth three times the price of the 12 depends on how much you value finish and manners over liveliness.
Highland Park is the Kirkwall distillery owned by Edrington, and the 18, sold as Viking Pride, sits above the 15 in the core range. It is bottled at 43% and matured in a high proportion of first-fill sherry-seasoned European and American oak, which is where the colour and most of the weight come from. The distillery page covers the floor maltings and the heather peat.
First-fill matters here. Casks that have held sherry only once give far more to the whisky than tired ones, so an eighteen year old from them has very little room to be shy. Highland Park copes by letting the smoke do the balancing, the same job it does in the 12 and the 15, only more quietly.
Dark chocolate, Seville orange and the sort of polish you find on old church pews.
The nose is Seville orange marmalade, bitter chocolate and dried dates, with heather honey underneath and a wisp of smoke that you have to look for. Old polished wood comes through as it sits in the glass, which is the sherry oak showing its age.
On the palate it is thick and rich. Dark fruit and bitter chocolate lead, honey follows, and a little warm spice keeps it from turning syrupy. The smoke hangs back near the edge, and at 43% the whole thing is soft enough that you stop noticing the strength and start noticing the texture.
The finish goes on for a long time and dries as it goes: cocoa, gentle smoke and a salty edge, then oak. It is the bit that justifies the number on the label, because most eighteen year olds fade long before this one does.
Neat, at room temperature, slowly, and in a glass that lets you smell it. A drop of water softens the oak without costing the weight. Ice is out of the question; it would mute exactly the things you paid for. Water and ice explains why.
It suits a dark chocolate square and a quiet evening better than a crowd. This is not a Tuesday whisky, and it is not one for the person who tends to top up everyone’s glass without looking.
About £128 for 70 cl. The 15 at about £81 scores 83 and the 12 at about £43 scores 81, so the 18 asks you to pay a lot more for a one point gain. On pure value the 12 wins, the 15 is the sweet spot, and the 18 is for the person who has already done both.
Among its peers it holds up. Dalmore 15 scores 74 at about £95, Glenfarclas 21 scores 84 at about £200, and Balvenie PortWood 21 scores 83 at about £230. Against those, the Highland Park gives you the same grade for noticeably less money, and it comes with smoke the others do not have.
Age statements are a promise about time, not about taste. Plenty of eighteen year olds taste tired, drying and oaky, as if the cask won the argument. This one does not, and I think that is down to the sherry being good and the peat giving the whisky a spine. Take the smoke away and you would have a pleasant sherried malt with a very high price.
It is also worth saying that the jump from 15 to 18 is smaller than the jump from 12 to 15. By eighteen the returns have started to diminish, and what you are buying is polish, length and a certain finality. If you want drama, buy something younger and louder. If you want a closing argument, this is a good one.
If the 18 is not quite right, these are the four I would look at:
About £43 and 81 on my page, with more smoke and less polish.
Rounder and richer, no smoke, and a much bigger bill.
Similar money, a sweeter and more orange-led take on sherry oak.
Port-finished, honeyed and silky, if you want to spend more.
Highland Park 18 is the whisky for the end of a good year. It is rich, long and well mannered, and it keeps the Orkney smoke as a thread through the sherry, which is what stops it being just another expensive malt.
It is not cheap and it is not the best value in the range, but it never disappoints once the cork is out, and that is more than I can say for plenty of bottles at this price.
Caskable score: 84 out of 100.
Seville orange marmalade, bitter chocolate, dried dates and heather honey with a wisp of smoke.
Thick and rich: dark fruit, bitter chocolate, honey and warm spice, the smoke hanging back.
Very long and drying, with cocoa, gentle smoke and a salty edge.
Rich, long and well mannered, with the smoke as a thread through the sherry.
Thomas Grønvold is the founder of Caskable and a whisky enthusiast who believes the best way to learn about whisky is simply to drink it, compare it, and stay curious. From supermarket favourites to bottles from distilleries around the world, he writes about what he actually tastes and experiences, without pretending you need to be an expert to enjoy a good dram.
View profile →
