.highland park - einar

40% abv, €50, single malt

Nose: sweet, caramel, fudge, wood, slight smoke, black & white liquorice powder, anise
Palate: sweet, caramel, dried fruit, prunes, apricots,
Finish: sweet, caramel, medium long, spices, nutmeg, cloves, warm
Mark: +++/++


Conclusion: an OK dram, would do nice on an evening with friends, without any bullshit. Also comes in a 1 litre bottle.

More info: Einar was the joint Earl of Orkney from 1014. Renowned for often venturing on long voyages, he was relentless in his rule and associated with the giant axe featured on the malt's label.

from the website: "Einar has been crafted as a tribute to one of the most feared and ruthless Vikings of his time. Driven by a heady mixture of peat smoke and American oak casks, the result is a whisky of bold complexity brought together with the addition of some broody spiciness.

Described in the Orkneyinga Saga as ‘a hard and successful fighting man’, Einar became the overall ruler of Orkney, deeply upsetting his younger brother Thorfinn. This bottling exudes many of Einar’s character traits: unrelenting in its flavour it delivers a surprisingly direct smokiness which is coupled with a darker inner layer of spice, driven by a proportion of whisky matured in European oak casks."

Second expression of the 2013 Highland Park Travel Retail exclusive Warrior series.