Five to six weeks every year Highland Park Distillery produces heavily peated barley. In their new release Valkyrie they have used 50 percent heavily peated barley.
Valkyrie is the first of three releases in a series of three special Viking Legend releases. This is what they say about the name and the design:
Plunging down from the dark heavens, the Valkyries would descend like avenging angels on horseback to comb the battlefields for the bravest of the fallen warriors, heroes fit to enter the great Norse god Odin’s hall, Valhalla. VALKYRIE celebrates our rich Nordic ancestry here on Orkney, where we were once part of a vast Viking kingdom, and its packaging was designed by internationally renowned designer and Viking Soul, Jim Lyngvild.
The whisky has been matured in American bourbon casks, American sherry casks and European sherry casks. It is bottled at 45,9 ABV.
It will be available in Norway in November 2017.
I think it seems a bit young on the nose at first. I get malt and overripe peaches. Then vanilla comes along with touch of something salt and sour. It reminds of the small green candies I could get for one cent when I was a little girl! Green grapes and white pepper as well. After a long while I detect some sulfur. Warm and spicy on the palate. Quite rich. Licorice, salt, black pepper and some smoke. The finish is smooth with aniseed, some smoke and pepper.
My score: nose 21 / taste 22 / finish 21 / balance 22 = 86
– Tone
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