Star anise; creamed honey; orange marmalade; toffee; marzipan; rancid butter. Spanish sherry hangs back gracefully but maintains a presence. Finally, the scent of this peat reminds me of decomposing old growth stumps in an old growth forest of Doug fir and hemlock (quite pleasant, actually). Not very smoky on the nose.
Nice balance of sweet, bitter, and smoky. In fact, the flavors are so integrated that it is challenging to pick them out of the line-up. With some effort, one can detect individual notes of vanilla bean, orange blossom, caramel, honey butter, marshmallow nougat, and burnt toast (in a good way). Follow-up sips reveal figgy pudding, date, and sultana. Concentrated sugars in these fruit notes mingle quite nicely with mild peat smoke. Finish: I’m quite happy the smoke lasts well into this medium length finish. Often Highland Park doesn’t get enough smoke into the bottles for my taste. Is it oak that dries things out here? Yes, what else would it be? Interesting development for such a young whisky. Could there be a few older casks mixed in? On second thought, it could be a few virgin oak casks. Now comes high quality cocoa powder, wood tannin, that persistent rancid butter note (which, strangely, I quite like), and finally some marzipan. Sweet smoke lingers on the tongue well past this whisky’s final death throes. It’s not strong enough to feel like cigarette smoke, however, which is fine with me. Final Thoughts Highland Park distillery’s Drakkar is very pleasing to my nose and palate, although not terribly complex. Even still, the finish is satisfying, despite a rather underwhelming 40% ABV. Generally speaking, I think ratings for Drakkar were a tad on the low side. I could not, in all conscience, give Drakkar four stars, but I found myself wanting to. Why? Because it’s delicious! Alas, I can’t rank Drakkar up in the same category as truly outstanding, older, and higher ABV bottles that have earned my four star rating on The Whiskey Wash. If the criteria for ratings hinged solely on personal enjoyment, then Drakkar would have earned four stars, for sure. I am quite partial to the magickal tendency at Highland Park distillery to hit all the right places on my enjoyment index: sweet; bitter; fruity; and smoky. How many single malt Scotches can lay claim to such a feat? Yes, granted, Drakkar is a bit watery, and a bit simple-minded–but no matter. I shall drink it round a Viking bonfire on the beach, holding my skull-cup high! Or, more likely . . . I will sit at my kitchen table, nosing a Glencairn of Drakkar while gazing stoically at ice collecting on the window. Outside: darkness, wind, freezing rain. A branch falls on the roof. Thud. And then it will be time to scare up the remaining half of a roasted squash, a wilted apple, a bit of cheese (minus scraped off mold), and a piece of frozen rye bread to toast. Such is the winter repast that awaits Yours Truly, after he finishes writing the last word of this review. Many of the simpler things in life aren’t really so different from the Viking Age , are they? Skal . Score
I’m quite happy the smoke lasts well into this medium length finish. Often Highland Park doesn’t get enough smoke into the bottles for my taste. Is it oak that dries things out here? Yes, what else would it be? Interesting development for such a young whisky. Could there be a few older casks mixed in? On second thought, it could be a few virgin oak casks.
