HIGHLAND PARK 'RAGNVALD' - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

Now its on to the 'Ragnvald' bottling and we're stepping up the antics here a bit... or at least the price... now these bottlings have been called ridiculously priced, especially since they're No Age Statement bottling, but I won't go into that in this post - I've done so plenty on other occasions, instead I'll skip right to the review you're really waiting for...

Stills at Highland Park, August 6th 2009 © The Malt Desk

Highland Park 'Ragnvald' NAS 44,6%, Distillery bottling (travel retail 70cl)

Colour is deep gold

Nose:
This is very dark rum like for a moment, hint of cinnamon, vanilla, apple, overripe almost soft oranges, soft smoke and a hint of menthol

Taste:
Oh, this is nice... Tropical fruits, mango and melon with some spices thrown in, clove, dried apricot snacks, teak wood and just a hint of something earthy and tarry, oranges, honey, black pepper and chocolate. The finish is medium long with a tail of smoke and mouthwatering fruity/floral exit.

Now we're talking - this is a very good dram from Highland Park and there's clearly some older cask influence here. I feel that a slightly higher abv% would have taken this whisky 1 or 2 points higher... The price, though makes this a little less fun.

Priced at around €400 in travel retail

89/100!

Official sample provided by Highland Park