Highland Park Earl Haakon 18 yo 54.9% vs Highland Park 25 yo 48.1%

Let's start my blogging experience with one of my favourite distilleries (if not the most favourite one). The idea is to compare 2 great malts from Highland Park distillery I absolutely adore. 

Highland Park Earl Haakon 18 yo 54.9% - the last one of Inga Saga Trilogy (more widely known as Earl Magnus series comprising of Saint Magnus 12 yo, Earl Magnus 15 yo and Eark Haakon 18 yo), 1 of 3300 bottles at cask strength released in 2011.

Nose: quite reserved at the very beginning, needs to be warmed. Orkney peat, honey, sherry (even some mushroom trace appears in 10-15 min), oranges, marmalade, touches of salt and oak. M-m-m-m.. Can sit with this one for hours. There are also some church flavours usually present in much older Highland parks: precious wood, frankincense, myrrh. I guess that hiding some barrels in the church was deliberate step by Magnus Eunson.

Taste: very dense and wild, quite dry, but also fruity, peaty, a tad salty, slightly peppery and oaky - that's what we love Highland Park for, you can seek for almost any type of flavour and find it there.

Finish: long, pulsatile, again some sweetness, smoke, pepper and oak.

Overall: that is much more masculine version of ordinary 18 yo which is far better in any dimension. Regular one seems to be weak and watery if compared to this viking.

Score: 23 23 23 23, 92/100!

Highland Park 25 yo 48.1% - official 25 yo edition (the one I tasted was bottled in 2007), in 2012 they reduced the strength to 45.7% instead of 48.1%. Sad enough but we'll touch this issue in another post.

Nose: much more mellow and elegant, sweeter and less intense than Earl Haakon nose. Apples stewed in honey. Vanilla. Grapes. Sea. Chocolate. Oak. Just gorgeous. Everything is wonderfully integrated, the nose is changing while you smell it, later on some smoked pear and fruit firewood appear. It's closer to standard HP line-up if we can say so.

Taste: not so wild as in Haakon, but we have more salt and pepper here. Distinct oak.

Finish: eternally long, vibrant, peppery, spicy and dry. Some chocolate also. Let me quote Gerry Tosh: "... make a sip, the front of your tongue should go on fire. Then your lips might tingle. You might even lose feeling in your fingers and toes :) don't worry, bear with it, fight with it, when this tingling sensation begins to subside your mough will dry and will stay dry for a very long time... and after a good minute your mouth will naturally recover getting moisture back"

Overall: body in HP 25 is less dense than in Haakon, but nose and aftertaste beat the viking. I don't know if that means anything, but during tasting I poured Haakon only once and HP 25 was poured 3 times. Very seducing and dangerously drinkable whisky, you should settle some personal limits when taking this bottle out of shelf!

Score: 24 22.5 24 23.5, 94/100!

Comparison conclusion: both are truly great. Haakon is more brutal and might save you some money as it will last longer in a bottle. The old 25 yo is more elegant and wins this contest.