After last year’s Thor, Highland Park Loki is the second of four releases in the Valhalla series. It is bottled at cask strength again, and it comes in the same kind of boat-like wooden frame. I was told part of the casks that were mixed in had previously contained peated whisky.
Highland Park 15 yo ‘Loki’
(48,7%, OB 2013, 21.000 btl.)
Nose: a mineral and leathery start, slightly sharp, and not many fruity notes to balance it. Hints of green apples and dried orange peel though. After that, a quick move to spicy notes, like nutmeg, ginger and anise. The whole base is made up of grainy notes (porridge) which have never been my favourite aromas.
Mouth: much, much better. The fruitiness is a lot bigger and downright tropical. Yellow apples, pineapple cubes, pink grapefruit… Quite jammy. Also nice waxy notes and honey. Returns to sharper peaty notes with ginger and lemon zest, as well as some earthy and spicy notes. Great evolution.
Finish: long, pleasant, with creamy vanilla, sweet citrus and cinnamon.
This is a real Janus. As if a slightly mediocre nose and beautiful palate were forced into the same bottle. Difficult to score, Loki certainly beats Thor on the palate, but I tend to give more weight to the nose, so Thor wins overall. Around € 160.
Score: 89/100