Highland Park 18 Year Old Scotch Review

Updated July 20, 2020

By Richard Thomas

Averaged Rating: B+

Sitting atop last year’s revamped Highland Park core line is their 18 Year Old single malt. There are older expressions from this Orkney distillery, of course, but they weren’t included in the Viking-themed revamp.

The 18 year old is, in some ways, an embodiment of what Highland Park does. The Scotch industry doesn’t have too many distilleries that plant their feet squarely on both peated malt and Sherry cask aging, but Highland Park does, and what the now call Viking Pride is an aged example. The malt is lightly peated with Hobbister Moor peat, and the the recipe uses mostly Sherry seasoned, European oak cask-aged whisky. Viking Pride is bottled at 43% ABV.

The Scotch
In the glass, this stuff is thick. It puts a markedly viscous coat on the glass, one that forms a real lip around its top and drops just a tear or two, and those scarcely move. The color is dulled amber.

The nose is a restrained, moderate one. It’s light, but not actually subtle. A Sherry-driven fruity sweetness of plums, raisins, apricots and peaches is accented by a hint of lavender and a touch of smoke that is more burning moss than heavy vegetal peat.

The palate was a bit of a surprise, because it’s nothing like as heavy as the look of it suggested. Instead, it’s a light, silky liquid. The sweetness here reminded me a lot of a kind of jam I used to get in Portugal that was based on berries and called “Forest Fruits,” with notes of cookie spice and malty cereals and honey. Whatever smoke was in the scent is gone here too.

The finish has a lot more “there” there. It starts off fruity and sweet before turning woody and spicy and finally closing out with just a whiff of smoke.

Highland Park’s 18 Year Old is surprisingly lacking in body, a factor that holds it back in my opinion. It’s sweet and pleasant to drink, but it just doesn’t carry itself well enough to make it all that interesting of a pour.

Addendum by Douglas Fraser

Highland Park 18 is a peated Single Malt Scotch from the northern most region of Scotland. This spirit is matured for 18 long years, staying consistently cool in the Orcadian air, in some of the finest sherry oak casks from Spain. Highland Park 18 is made of 100% malted barley and smoked using peat from the island. It is quite a unique whisky that is consistently well balanced and smooth. The whisky is completely naturally colored and bottled at a pleasant 96 proof/43% ABV. Highland Park 18 continues to prove itself time and time again, being a dram anyone can enjoy.

Color: Burnt Gold

From the time I saw those nice slender legs streaming down the side of the glass to the long and warming finish, Highland Park 18 was excellent in almost every aspect. It starts with noticeable smokiness, but not too overpowering, some nuttiness, red fruit sweetness, marzipan, and dark chocolate on the nose. The sweetness and smokiness were perfectly balanced. On the palate are robust and complex sherry notes with red fruit sweetness such as cherry, oak, toffee, honey, all spice, dark chocolate, and more smoke. Again, the balance was remarkable. However, the texture was a little thicker (creamy) than I would like. The finish is long, smooth and gentle with more of that superb balance of peat smoke and sherry sweetness. To be honest, it was hard to stop drinking this marvelous elixir.

The Price
In the U.S., expect to pay $180. In Europe, the slightly smaller bottle often fetches about €100, which is a much better bargain.