Lunch with a Master Whisky Maker: Contrasting Highland Park's "Viking Legend" Trilogy

Hot on the heels of the Highland Park Valfather launch festivities, a small group of media were invited to lunch at Taipei's Hotel Proverbs (home to the excellent East End bar) the following day, to re-visit Valfather in a more intimate setting, hear more about the whisky from Master Whisky Maker Gordon Motion and Designer Jim Lyngvild, and compare and contrast the entire "Viking Legend" trilogy.

..that we could do so over a delicious 5 course lunch was the icing on the cake.

Following a private interview with Gordon and Jim, we took our seats and started proceedings, as we so often do at these lunches, with a 12yo Highland Park. A reliable, solid whisky which always makes for a nice "aperitif dram" at a lunch like this.

Gordon (who joined Edrington in 1998 and worked throughout the portfolio, covering The Macallan, The Famous Grouse and Glenturret before moving onto Highland Park) talked us through the evolution of the series, explaining the close collaboration between he and Jim that punctuated all three releases (summary: they worked together very closely - this wasn't just a marketing exercise), the approach to cask selection (Valfather for example had to be a "lighter, ethereal" whisky reminiscent of heaven) and then explained how Valfather was also the distillery's peatiest release to date. 

Whilst that might seem like a contradiction to some, Gordon explained the differences between Orkney peat (lighter, earthier, heather notes) as compared with Islay peat (smokier, medicinal, maritime notes) and why even though this is the "peatiest Highland Park" to date, it's not going to be akin to an Islay peatbomb.

Diving into lunch, we started with Lettuce salad with Ricotta cheese, Serrano and truffle dressing, followed by a starter of Foie Gras, Mushroom and Fennel, Duck Jus and Peanut Powder. This wasn't a pairing lunch per se, so there were no rules around the whiskies and we were free to explore the Viking Legend trilogy at our own pace.

It'd been a "long time between drinks" so to speak, given I'd first tasted Valkyrie in October 2017, and Valknut in December 2018, so it was great to have them all lined up side by side. I always like it when I revisit a dram a months or years later, and find similar notes as I did originally, and that was the case here, with the stronger sherry notes of the Valkyrie still shining through, the nuttiness of the Valknut again being evident, and each whisky becoming progressively smokier than the last.

Jim Lyngvild (the Danish designer responsible for the box and bottle designs for the Viking Legends trilogy) took the stage next, and gave us an appreciation of Orkney's Viking history (himself having literally descended from Orkney vikings, 36 generations earlier). Whilst Highland Park has at times been criticised for pushing the "Viking story" a little too heavily, and for sure there have been a lot of viking-related releases, Jim emphasised that it's at least a story that has history and meaning for Orkney, and is therefore real and true. It's certainly a lot more than we can say for some of the marketing-driven stories we read from time to time...

Mains were next - and how can you beat a great piece of steak (USDA Prime Grain-fed Top Cap), cooked to perfection with a solid dram? Whilst this wasn't a pairing lunch, for me this was a great match with Valkyrie, with the sherry notes mixing brilliantly with the rare meat.

A similarly good pairing was found in the final course - Flan, Dulce de Leche and Candied Peanut which I found went very well with the lighter Valfather and its notes of apple and toffee.

Dessert was actually served with a second dram too - a mystery Highland Park which we could tell had some age on it, but couldn't quite guess how old or which release it was. Turns out there's a good reason for that - it was a brand new, as-yet unreleased Highland Park 21yo, to be released in Asia shortly. Whilst we'll save the detailed notes for another post, it was a subtle and elegant HP, and well-deserving of a place in the core range.

With drams finished and farewells said, it was time to bring to a close an immensely enjoyable two days in Taipei. With the Viking Legends trilogy now officially completed, we look forward to what Highland Park has in store for us next.

Cheers,
Martin.

TimeforWhisky.com attended as a guest of Edrington, who provided flights and accommodation in Taipei. As always, a big thanks must go to the Edrington HK team, along with the Taipei and Singapore teams for their hospitality throughout the trip. 

Highland Park Valfather - Asia regional launch party, Taipei (Tasted #463)

Edrington certainly know how to throw a good party or dinner, but for Highland Park's latest release last week, they took it up a notch by holding a regional launch in Taipei, and flying in select media from various Asian markets. As one of four HK media outlets chosen to attend, we spent a fantastic 3 days in Taipei, covering 3 events all focused on the newest member of the Highland Park Family, Valfather.

The third and final in the "Viking Legends" trilogy (which began with Valkyrie and was followed by Valknut), Valfather is the disitllery's peatiest release yet, and represents the third collaboration with Danish Designer Jim Lyngvild. Bottled with No Age Statement and at 47% ABV, the whisky was matured entirely in refill casks.

Held at Brickyard 33 1/3 in the mountains surrounding Taipei, we weren't quite sure what to expect at first. Would it be a dinner? A tutored tasting? A booklet handed to us on the shuttle bus from the hotel (the stunning Humble House in downtown Taipei) gave a clue, outlining a number of activities we could take part in, to earn stamps and ultimately win Highland Park prizes.

The first involved having a picture taken with live Falcons (the more adventurous could hold the birds on an out-stretched arm too - see below). 

Alcohol and birds of prey - a winning combination!

Next was Highland Park's take on the beanbag toss...

 ..followed by an activity where guests could make their own personalised Highland Park keyring.

With all stamps collected, guests then needed to seek out a mysterious cloaked woman"who gave provided guests with their final prizes, an assortment of keyrings and other gifts.

With the games over, it was time for a Highland Park. Bar staff were kept busy all night serving a range of Highland Park drams, as well as a bespoke cocktail made specifically for the event - a twist on a Highland Park whisky sour.

After canapés and a few drams, guests congregated inside to hear from the two guests of honour - Gordon Motion (Highland Park Master Whisky Maker) and Jim Lyngvild (designer for the Viking Legends series).

Following a dramatic video introduction and an explanation of the Viking mythology and designs beheind the trilogy by Jim Lyngvild (himself a direct descendant of Orkney Vikings), Gordon Motion took the stage to talk us through a tasting of the new Valfather.

Designed to be a "light, ethereal" whisky to replicate Valhalla (Heaven), Gordon explained the whisky was matured entirely in refill butts and we all noticed it had a noticeably lighter hue when compared with the first two in the series.

 

Highland Park "Valfather" (47% ABV, NAS, Orkney, Scotland, $588HKD)

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Colour: Pale yellow sunrise.

Nose: Citrus smoke at first. More noticeable peat than previous HPs, but still very much Orkney peat (think earthy notes and heather, rather than iodine or smoked kippers). Hints of apple, green bananas, and some orange vanilla cream biscuits.

Palate: Gentle, sweet smoke wafts in and out, surrounded by notes of apple, toffee, vanilla slice and Crème brûlée.

Finish: Long with a vegetal, slightly floral smoke.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  88/100. An enjoyable (and suitably unique) end to the series. See here for comparison notes: Valkyrie & Valknut.

The next day, following an interview with both Gordon and Jim we were able to compare and contrast the series side-by-side, over lunch with a special new Highland Park added for good measure. Posts to follow shortly.

Cheers,

Martin.

A big thanks must go to Edrington HK for the invitation, and Edrington Taiwan / Singapore for the hospitality during our trip to Taipei.

Tasted #370 - #371: Nantou Whisky Distillery OMAR Single Cask ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry

Ask most whisky drinkers about Taiwanese whisky, and they'll probably respond with "Taiwanese whisky? You mean Kavalan?"

Whilst Kavalan undoubtedly produce some incredible Taiwanese whiskies (see our distillery tour review here), they're not the only ones. State-owned Nantou Whisky Distillery, in the central East of Taiwan, have been producing single malt whisky since 2008, and (judging by what I've tasted over the years) are doing a great job of it.

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I recently picked up a pack with the above two 200mL bottles from Taipei airport - each containing a single cask, cask-strength Nantou "OMAR" expression, one ex-Bourbon (5yo) and one ex-Sherry (6yo).

Both were impressive (even more so when you consider their relative short maturation), but one really impressed me, a lot more than I expected. Read on below....

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Nantou OMAR Cask Strength ex-Sherry Cask #21091313 (58.4% ABV, 6yo, Nantou, Taiwan, $2,200NTD / $570HKD / $92AUD as a set of two bottles, available from Taipei Airport)

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Colour: Copper-orange.

Nose: Berry sweetness leads to red apples, milk chocolate and hints of oak.

Palate: Quite tannic / dry, with sweetbread, pot-pourri and berry notes, followed by a slight nuttiness (Brazil nuts) and raisins. Water brings the oak out a little more - I suspect this was a fairly active cask.

Finish: Long, slightly tannic and with lots of sweet oak.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 88/100.

Nantou OMAR Cask Strength ex-Bourbon Cask #11110097 (54.1% ABV, 5yo, Nantou, Taiwan, $2,200NTD / $570HKD / $92AUD as a set of two bottles, available from Taipei Airport)
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Colour: Light golden straw

Nose: Grassy and herbaceous at first, with a fair amount of coconut and pencil shavings. After some time comes hints of tropical fruit, and some milk bottle lollies.

Palate: Rich and viscous. Initially dry, but after time a sweetness emerges, along with pineapple and mango notes. Water adds some oak and caramel chews.

Finish: Long, smooth and very creamy. Just the right balance of sweetness.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 91/100. An incredibly complex whisky considering it's only been maturing (albeit in Taiwan's climate) for 5 years. Delicious too - easily my pick of the two.

Cheers,
Martin.

Distillery Tour #3: Kavalan Distillery (Taiwan) - Makers of the 2015 World's Best Single Malt Whisky

Third in our Distillery Tour series (don't worry we haven't forgotten about Yamazaki - it's due soon) is the Kavalan Distillery in Taiwan. Or should we say, the distillery responsible for the World's Best Single Malt Whisky 2015, as crowned by the World Whiskies Awards in London last week.

Just a few weeks before the Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique Single Cask Strength picked up the coveted title, Steph and I were lucky enough to be treated to a private tour of the distillery (which was very lucky, considering the regular tours are in Mandarin, which neither of us speak).

Located in Yuanshan, a rural township in Yilan County (about 1hr 20m away from Taipei city), the Kavalan Distillery really is a sight to behold. Much like its parent, the King Car group, the distillery is absolutely massive, with everything done on a grand scale - the grounds, the warehouses, even the tasting room.

..but what really fascinated us, before all that, was Yilan County itself. Kilometer upon kilometer upon kilometer of flat, water-filled plots, some with shacks and run-down houses, some with modern mansions. Truly unlike anything we'd ever seen before (the photos below don't do it justice - but believe us when we say the landscape was like this for a good 30-40 minutes before we got to the distillery). Simply amazing.

Unfortunately Ian Chang (Master Distiller, who we met at The Whisky Show 2014 in Sydney) wasn't on site, but nevertheless we were given a very enjoyable tour by an enthusiastic tour guide who showed us the ins and outs of the distillery.

Kavalan obtain their barley already malted from the UK, Sweden and Finland, and don't do any in-house malting (though if they wanted to, they'd certainly have enough room!) Producing 3 million bottles a year, with the average cask aged for 3-4 years, means you need some serious storage facilities. In addition to the incredible 5 story warehouse they currently have, at the time of our visit, the distillery were constructing another. Unsurprising really, given the popularity in recent years. Due to frequent earthquakes in the region, the casks are bound 4 at a time, to reduce the risk of them toppling over - particularly those racked towards the top.

As with many distilleries, casks are a mix of port pipes, sherry butts and bourbon barrels, with the type of cask identifiable by a unique code on the front (and of course, the shape / size). The 3 casks below, first filled in 2006, were the first Kavalan casks to be filled (when you think about it, to win the World's Best Single Malt is a pretty incredible achievement for a distillery that's only been producing for 9 years!

Interestingly, in addition to the regular spirit/wash stills producing the single malt that has made Kavalan famous, the distillery has recently installed a number of other, very different German stills, which are intended to produce gin and brandy. Watch this space.

The tour itself (which I should point out, is completely free) is, in a similar fashion to the Suntory Hakushu Distillery we tourd back in December, somewhat of a "standard" tour. You see the mashing, you see the fermentation, you see the distillation, you see the barrel houses, and then you go into the tasting room. It's enjoyable, and you do get to see a few close-ups (such as some sample grains, open casks, new make spirit / whisky at various stages of aging in different casks), but you're not going to try a single cask whisky straight from the barrel, or taste a new make with your hands. From the looks of it, the distillery simply gets too many visitors each year to offer any specialist tours. It's certainly a popular tourist destination.

Unlike the aforementioned Hakushu Distillery tour, the tasting at the end of the tour is of one whisky only - the Kavalan Classic Single Malt 40% (4yo). There are nosing bottles on each table to allow tasters to nose each Kavalan expression (including the award winning Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique Single Cask Strength), but they aren't for tasting.

What the distillery shop offers, however, is 50mL sample bottles of every expression, along with a limited distillery-only peated 7yo expression (housed in a stunning presentation box, and available for a very reasonable ~$350HKD / $57AUD). If there are two things I really like to see in a distillery shop, it's a distillery-only expression that doesn't cost the earth, and a large range of samples. Tick, tick. Well done, Kavalan.

Was the tour worth doing? Yes, absolutely. While it might not be the most interactive of distillery tours you'll go on, you'll get to see whisky distillation / aging on a simply massive scale, in a country that just a few short years ago no-one would have thought could produce a decent whisky, let alone a world-beater.

A few tips if you do plan to visit:

• As mentioned, the distillery is a decent drive from Taipei (it took us about 1h 20m in a taxi), and if you're not driving yourself, your options are pretty limited. Our hotel (the excellent W Taipei) arranged a taxi for us, who waited at the distillery and drove us back. If you're not driving, I'd suggest doing something similar.
• If you are driving though, there's plenty of parking (of course it goes without saying - don't drink and drive, but this isn't like some Scottish distilleries where you'll be tasting 4-5 whiskies at the end).
• Book ahead, and if you don't speak Mandarin, see if you can arrange an English tour.

With Ian Chang (Kavalan Master Distiller) the day after his 
"Best Single Malt 2015" win, in London.

Cheers,

Steph & Martin.

Tasted #14: Kavalan Soloist (Sherry cask) cask strength

A few months ago a colleague and I were chatting about whisky, and he mentioned he'd just gotten a bottle of Taiwanese whisky from a colleague who bought it duty-free. Not having tried a Taiwanese whisky before, we agreed to swap drams - he'd bring a sample of the Kavalan to work, and I'd bring a sample of whatever he chose (which turned out to be the Starward Australian single malt).

A few weeks later I was reading "Whisky Advocate" and found a great article on the Kavalan distillery - I had no idea it was such a highly regarded distilery (nor did I know Jim Murray had given two of their sherried drams 95 and 97 respectively!) Needless to say, at that point I was even more eager to try the dram..

(Sadly I got the dram during a self-imposed week-long alcohol ban due to Tough Mudder, so as soon as that was over, with the physical pain still lingering slightly, it was time to crack open the Kavalan....)

Kavalan Soloist (Sherry) cask strength (58.6% ABV, non-chill filtered, bottle 116/587 from cask S060626022)

Colour: Rich, thick, syruppy, and dark, dark brown. Probably the darkest whisky I've seen in a long time (natural colour too).

Nose: Medicinal sweetness. Reminds me of those sickly sweet cough syrups I used to be fed as a kid when I was sick. Almost rum-like. Certainly pleasant, just very different to any whisky I've tried before.

Palate: Initially dry, but the sherry sweetness quickly comes through, followed by the full mouthfeel of the (58.6%) cask strength. This is an extremely sweet whisky - the sherry influence is almost overpowering. Very smooth though - the ABV had me worried it might be a harsh dram, but that's not the case at all.

Finish: Warming, residual sweetness on the back of the tongue, smooth to the end. 

Certainly an enjoyable dram, but not for the faint of heart.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100

Cheers,
 - Martin.