Highland Park, 12yr, Island

Highland Park 12yr
Island
40% abv

Color: Amber, almost orange, so clear you can see right through it from the top (of course this also means my glass was not thick bottomed, but anyway)

Nose: It’s very sweet and subtle; it smells more like white wine than whisky; it is very pleasant, but not very formidable. (After a few sips, it smells smoky, still sweet, but now it’s smoky until the end.)

Palate: super smooth, light and sweet; easy to drink; illusive, it’s hard to say when the taste ends and the aftertaste begins

Finish: lightly in the nostrils letting you know it is there, then it’s suddenly smoky and strong, and just as quickly it’s gone, with a lingering taste of sweet whisky. (I have to say that I was quite surprised by the finish after smelling it for about five minutes and then it tasting so light. The finish is complex.)

Overall: A highly enjoyable whisky to drink, rather involved. The smell and taste are rather different than the aftertaste. Enjoyable complexity. Even though the smell gets smoky while drinking it, I wish it smelled a bit bolder. In that case, I’d love it. With the smell it has, I like it a lot. (You’ll have to place yourself in 8th grade to decipher the meaning there.)

-bonus, this was free... I sort of borrowed it from the owner of the Heatherlea.

Quick note:

-technically, when I say you can see the North Sea in any of the pictures, I am incorrect. It is the Firth of Forth, but whatever, it's the North Sea. Here's a map; the water near Edinburgh is technically not the North Sea. I just felt I had to share this.