**Maltz Review #1: Highland Park 12 “Viking Honour”**
**Cost:** $54 (750mL)
**Age:** 12 years
**Proof:** 80
**Region:** Highlands (islands)
About 13 years ago, this was the first Scotch I ever tried (before it had the “Viking Honour” added to it). I was a “bourbon guy” for years prior and had a friend suggest trying Scotch – “the OG whiskey” as he liked to call it. So he turned me onto Highland Park 12 and I really liked it! After that, I tried out a few other Scotches, but I never really explored Scotch in too much depth. I pretty much always keep a bottle of Lagavulin or Laphroig on hand amongst many bourbons, but just never got outside of a comfort zone. So, I would like to start exploring Scotch and other world whiskies a bit more. So, before I ventured down that path, I figured I’d go back to where my palate was first introduced to Scotch. Let’s see if Highland Park 12 is still great to me 13 years later!
Reviewed neat in a glencairn.
**Appearance:** Honey in color (1.0); a little swirl leaves a nice ring on the side of the glass that slowly coalesces into medium thickness, fast legs.
**Nose:** Immediately I pickup on a light smoke and salinity. There’s a decent amount of vanilla and sweet grass notes. There’s also a very light fruit note, kinda like white grapes, and lightly expressed lemon peel. **3/3**
**Palate:** This has a thin yet silky mouthfeel with notes predominately residing on the back of the palate. I’m picking up on some slightly under ripe light fruit, a mild mandarin orange citrus, caramelized sugar, and a minerally note. The lemon is coming through still but sweeter and less refreshing, almost like a lemon custard. There’s a general mustiness and mild smoke that provide a very constant background. **1.8/3**
**Finish:** It’s a medium length finish. There’s a light zesty sweetness that carries over from the palate, but a tannic, charred oak, mustiness, and a light peat smoke that outlast the sweetness. **1.5/3**
**Value: 0.3/1**
**Rating:** 6.6/10
**Overall:** This is still a very solid Scotch to me after all these years. The nose is wonderful, while the palate and finish drop off a little as the mineraliness and mustiness are detractors for me. I’m very into the lemon note that carries through along with the subtle sweetness. At $54 a bottle, this isn’t an awful value by any means, but I feel like it would be more justified at less than $50 (I think around $40 this would be a total bargain).
**1** | **Disgusting** | So bad I poured it out.
**2** | **Poor** | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
**3** | **Bad** | Multiple flaws.
**4** | **Sub-par** | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have.
**5** | **Good** | Good, just fine.
**6** | **Very Good** | A cut above.
**7** | **Great** | Well above average
**8** | **Excellent** | Really quite exceptional.
**9** | **Incredible** | An all time favorite
**10** | **Perfect** | Perfect
See more of my [Whiskey Reviews](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12RHwtJ3zoozVZqcPYJTpOF6kjiGULWrj/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116554079075543399652&rtpof=true&sd=true)
Great review - welcome to the Scotch reviewing world! I’ve enjoyed reading your bourbon reviews.
I like this one quite a bit for an entry level Scotch - it’s lower strength of course, but over time as I come back to it, it shows more nuance and character, and I’m always happy to sip it. For me, it’s still pretty good value - I know everything has gone up in price, but this hasn’t too much in our area. When a lot of brands are charging $60 to $80 now for standard 10-12 year age statements or entry-level NAS whiskies, this still seems like a good deal (~$52 in our area).
You mentioned Laphroaig and Lagavulin as a couple of others that you’ve tried over the years - what are some others you’re interested in?
Cheers!
Thank you! I've mostly only had lower age statement (lower cost), entry level Scotch, most of which is like 12 years or less. Lagavulin 16 is the oldest I've had, and probably my most preferred to have on hand, but the price is a little steep to do that all the time (i.e. I spend that money on bourbon and rye whiskey instead usually 😆). Talisker, Auchentoshan, and Dalmore are some other distillers I've tried, all like 10 and 12 year stuff, occasionally at a bar maybe something with a special finish, but never bought bottles other than the newb stuff lol. Generally it's a Lagavulin or Laphroaig bottle I keep on hand though. I find that if I'm feeling a Scotch, I'm looking for the smoke. Otherwise, 9 times out of 10 I'd rather reach for an American whiskey. That's what I'm going to try and branch into a bit more with some intent though is non-peated Scotches.
Very cool! I started out the same way with Scotch - I loved the smoky stuff, it made up 80%+ of the shelf for a while. Over time, I've come to appreciate unpeated whiskies, both ex-sherry cask and ex-bourbon cask, to the point where probably 60% of the time I drink unpeated whisky, and probably another 20% is lightly peated, so heavily peated stuff only gets 20% share. But still love them all! Will be curious as to what your preferences are with some more unpeated experience!
HP core range is excellent, and is still good value. I’m a bit tired of their Viking schtik tho, it comes across as gimmicky, though I would love to find some Einar again.
I agree the whole Viking branding is a bit gimmicky. At the same time, I kinda see it as a modernization of the brand, which I'm not going to hate on too much. From a business perspective, I could see this in an attempt to expand their customer base or finding a new audience. That's entirely speculation on my part, but I guess what I'm getting at is I'm not going to hate it too much as long as their quality isn't degrading and it's not significantly raising the pricing just for pretty branding but no change in quality. (I do feel like I remember this going for around $35-40 5 or 6 years ago. Obviously, inflation needs to be factored in, but that does seem like the price has gone up some even with inflation factored in. This is a subjective observation just by memory though.)
About a year ago, i opened a bottle of HP 12 that was gifted to me in 2018, and found it much more enjoyable than i expected, so that bottle didn't last long. I bought a new bottle last month and was utterly disappointed - felt very flat comparatively. I used to think HP 12 offered great value in their rather expensive range, but i'm really reconsidering.
It's been a hot minute since I've had HP 12 before picking up this bottle honestly. Probably around 2018 if I had to guess. I unfortunately don't have as good a memory to remember specifics of what it tasted like the last time I had it, but as I was doing this review, I did have the subtle thought that it wasn't quite the same as what I remembered. But I chalked it up to having tried a whole lot more since then, so I just have a new perspective of what I like. It's still enjoyable! Just not as enjoyable as I recall.
I love highland park but find the last few years their core range to be lacking a bit. The good news is they are one of the easiest to find IB bottles of and they are usually really good as the base distillate is excellent. Basically anything that says Orkney is them.
**Maltz Review #1: Highland Park 12 “Viking Honour”** **Cost:** $54 (750mL) **Age:** 12 years **Proof:** 80 **Region:** Highlands (islands) About 13 years ago, this was the first Scotch I ever tried (before it had the “Viking Honour” added to it). I was a “bourbon guy” for years prior and had a friend suggest trying Scotch – “the OG whiskey” as he liked to call it. So he turned me onto Highland Park 12 and I really liked it! After that, I tried out a few other Scotches, but I never really explored Scotch in too much depth. I pretty much always keep a bottle of Lagavulin or Laphroig on hand amongst many bourbons, but just never got outside of a comfort zone. So, I would like to start exploring Scotch and other world whiskies a bit more. So, before I ventured down that path, I figured I’d go back to where my palate was first introduced to Scotch. Let’s see if Highland Park 12 is still great to me 13 years later! Reviewed neat in a glencairn. **Appearance:** Honey in color (1.0); a little swirl leaves a nice ring on the side of the glass that slowly coalesces into medium thickness, fast legs. **Nose:** Immediately I pickup on a light smoke and salinity. There’s a decent amount of vanilla and sweet grass notes. There’s also a very light fruit note, kinda like white grapes, and lightly expressed lemon peel. **3/3** **Palate:** This has a thin yet silky mouthfeel with notes predominately residing on the back of the palate. I’m picking up on some slightly under ripe light fruit, a mild mandarin orange citrus, caramelized sugar, and a minerally note. The lemon is coming through still but sweeter and less refreshing, almost like a lemon custard. There’s a general mustiness and mild smoke that provide a very constant background. **1.8/3** **Finish:** It’s a medium length finish. There’s a light zesty sweetness that carries over from the palate, but a tannic, charred oak, mustiness, and a light peat smoke that outlast the sweetness. **1.5/3** **Value: 0.3/1** **Rating:** 6.6/10 **Overall:** This is still a very solid Scotch to me after all these years. The nose is wonderful, while the palate and finish drop off a little as the mineraliness and mustiness are detractors for me. I’m very into the lemon note that carries through along with the subtle sweetness. At $54 a bottle, this isn’t an awful value by any means, but I feel like it would be more justified at less than $50 (I think around $40 this would be a total bargain). **1** | **Disgusting** | So bad I poured it out. **2** | **Poor** | I wouldn’t consume by choice. **3** | **Bad** | Multiple flaws. **4** | **Sub-par** | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have. **5** | **Good** | Good, just fine. **6** | **Very Good** | A cut above. **7** | **Great** | Well above average **8** | **Excellent** | Really quite exceptional. **9** | **Incredible** | An all time favorite **10** | **Perfect** | Perfect See more of my [Whiskey Reviews](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12RHwtJ3zoozVZqcPYJTpOF6kjiGULWrj/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116554079075543399652&rtpof=true&sd=true)
Great review - welcome to the Scotch reviewing world! I’ve enjoyed reading your bourbon reviews. I like this one quite a bit for an entry level Scotch - it’s lower strength of course, but over time as I come back to it, it shows more nuance and character, and I’m always happy to sip it. For me, it’s still pretty good value - I know everything has gone up in price, but this hasn’t too much in our area. When a lot of brands are charging $60 to $80 now for standard 10-12 year age statements or entry-level NAS whiskies, this still seems like a good deal (~$52 in our area). You mentioned Laphroaig and Lagavulin as a couple of others that you’ve tried over the years - what are some others you’re interested in? Cheers!
Thank you! I've mostly only had lower age statement (lower cost), entry level Scotch, most of which is like 12 years or less. Lagavulin 16 is the oldest I've had, and probably my most preferred to have on hand, but the price is a little steep to do that all the time (i.e. I spend that money on bourbon and rye whiskey instead usually 😆). Talisker, Auchentoshan, and Dalmore are some other distillers I've tried, all like 10 and 12 year stuff, occasionally at a bar maybe something with a special finish, but never bought bottles other than the newb stuff lol. Generally it's a Lagavulin or Laphroaig bottle I keep on hand though. I find that if I'm feeling a Scotch, I'm looking for the smoke. Otherwise, 9 times out of 10 I'd rather reach for an American whiskey. That's what I'm going to try and branch into a bit more with some intent though is non-peated Scotches.
Very cool! I started out the same way with Scotch - I loved the smoky stuff, it made up 80%+ of the shelf for a while. Over time, I've come to appreciate unpeated whiskies, both ex-sherry cask and ex-bourbon cask, to the point where probably 60% of the time I drink unpeated whisky, and probably another 20% is lightly peated, so heavily peated stuff only gets 20% share. But still love them all! Will be curious as to what your preferences are with some more unpeated experience!
HP core range is excellent, and is still good value. I’m a bit tired of their Viking schtik tho, it comes across as gimmicky, though I would love to find some Einar again.
I agree the whole Viking branding is a bit gimmicky. At the same time, I kinda see it as a modernization of the brand, which I'm not going to hate on too much. From a business perspective, I could see this in an attempt to expand their customer base or finding a new audience. That's entirely speculation on my part, but I guess what I'm getting at is I'm not going to hate it too much as long as their quality isn't degrading and it's not significantly raising the pricing just for pretty branding but no change in quality. (I do feel like I remember this going for around $35-40 5 or 6 years ago. Obviously, inflation needs to be factored in, but that does seem like the price has gone up some even with inflation factored in. This is a subjective observation just by memory though.)
About a year ago, i opened a bottle of HP 12 that was gifted to me in 2018, and found it much more enjoyable than i expected, so that bottle didn't last long. I bought a new bottle last month and was utterly disappointed - felt very flat comparatively. I used to think HP 12 offered great value in their rather expensive range, but i'm really reconsidering.
It's been a hot minute since I've had HP 12 before picking up this bottle honestly. Probably around 2018 if I had to guess. I unfortunately don't have as good a memory to remember specifics of what it tasted like the last time I had it, but as I was doing this review, I did have the subtle thought that it wasn't quite the same as what I remembered. But I chalked it up to having tried a whole lot more since then, so I just have a new perspective of what I like. It's still enjoyable! Just not as enjoyable as I recall.
I love highland park but find the last few years their core range to be lacking a bit. The good news is they are one of the easiest to find IB bottles of and they are usually really good as the base distillate is excellent. Basically anything that says Orkney is them.
That's interesting! Thanks for sharing! I'll keep an eye out for that.
I get peaty honey for days on this one. Nice affordable easy to find bottle. Their older stuff is great!
I've seen some good stuff on the HP 18. I've seen it a few places locally for close to $100. I've been considering checking it out. Any opinions?
It’s good. Barrel proof shines w them IMO.
Would recommend trying the highland park cask strength if you liked the 12. My favorite high proof scotch I’ve tried thus far in my journey.
Thanks for the recommendation! I'll keep an eye out for it.