Highland Park Valknut Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Founded in 1798, presumably by Magnus Eunson, Highland Parks distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery in Kirkwall Orkney. Highland Park is the northernmost distillery in Scotland, a half mile further north than Scapa distillery. Although the name of the whisky has Highland in the title, the name of the whisky does not refer to the Scottish Highlands, but rather to the fact that the distillery was founded on an area called High Park which is distinguished from a lower Park area nearby.Highland Park malts its own barley, using locally cut peat from the nearby Hobbister Moor. The malt is peated to 20 parts per million phenol and then mixed with unpeated malt produced on the Scottish mainland.Highland Park is home to several critically acclaimed whiskies, offering several proprietary bottlings by year. In 1984, they became the first whisky ever to have scored a rating of 100 percent from The Scotland newspapers tasting team. Highland Park is made today, just as it was in 1798, using what they call their five keystones of production: aromatic peat, hand turned floor maltings, sherry oak casks, cool maturation, and cask harmonization.Their peat is hand cut from the Hobbister Moor, no less than seven miles from the distillery. The moor is over 9,000 years old, going as deep as four meters. The barren woodless moor is composed layer upon layer of densely compacted vegetation. Rich in heather, the peat is dried naturally in the summer, then burned in ancient kilns, where its heathery aromatic smoke infuses the malting barley.Highland Park is also one of the few distilleries that meticulously turns their malt by hand. Their barrels are cut from European and American oak, and crafted into staves at precisely 45. This was the method used by the Vikings to make their longships watertight. The staves are then shipped to Jerez in southern Spain where theyre made into casks, filled with Oloroso Sherry and left to mature for around two years, before being emptied and shipped back to Orkney to be refilled with whisky. These casks contribute to up to 80 percent of Highland Park whiskys final flavors, and natural colorings.Introducing the second expression in Highland Parks limited edition Viking Series: Highland Park Valknut. This second release is made using a small amount of Orkney-grown Tartan barley, boasting a slightly higher phenol content.The Danish designer behind this expression Jim Lyngvild, was inspired by the mythological Valknut symbol associated with fallen warriors. This symbol of three interlinked triangles was used in Norse mythology to represent honorable warriors killed in battle.Pick up your bottle today!