Norse Gods and Kings

Recently read The Gospel of Loki, by Joanne Harris. It's fairly fun, and retells the main storyline of the Norse gods from Loki's perspective. This Loki is rather perceptive and self-aware, with recognition of his own role in why he came to be known as the trickster, and the role he plays in bringing on Ragnarok, or, the Norse version of the end times.

The premise is a fairly interesting twist, and it helps when you can imagine Hiddleston as the protagonist in the story. What grates, unfortunately, is the writing style. Loki, the narrator, seems to speak like a slimy American businessman, or someone running for President. The slyness comes out in bits and pieces, and half the time, he's just out to have fun. What I felt was missing was the bit of malice behind the tricks, and the sense of chaos. While Loki represents chaos in the story world, he doesn't really upset the apple cart much, and doesn't do much to reverse power relations either. Loki ends up being a little too rational and, well, normal. I dunno. Maybe I'm missing the point through my unfamiliarity with Norse legends, but the book's style and characterization of Loki left me wondering if the Trickster could be amped up a little bit more.

Which, coincidentally, is what I think about the whisky I'm writing about today: Highland Park's Harald, released for the Travail Travel Retail market. Harald is part of a series of other whiskies named after Viking/Norse warriors of old. Those cheaper than Harald were sold in 1 litre bottles, while Harald and above were sold in the standard 700ml bottles. Which perhaps suggests that Harald is about where things start to get serious. Unfortunately, I think Harald doesn't get serious enough, which is a shame. King Harald sounds like a pretty badass.

Highland Park Harald (40% abv)

Colour - Gold

Nose - Pretty nice, really. Classic Highland Park with sherry and smoke. The sherry comes across in raisins and the spices you usually associate with sherried whiskies - cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg. Honey, and fairly obvious orange notes, I thought. With a bit of time, there's a faint floral note as well as some light peat instead of smoke. This is balanced, and pretty characteristic of Highland Park.

Palate - Oranges and cinnamon apple dessert. Sweet, with smoke. Honey remains. The smoke is pretty nicely balanced against the sherry influence. Spices remain, but not as strong as it felt on the nose. Mouth feel is a little...watery, despite the heavier flavours. I guess this was chill-filtered? Lacking a little fatness and minerality that would have added more edge to this rounded whisky. Balance and round, but I think it lacks a little depth. Everything is there on the palate on first tasting, without the development of chocolate, tea, or whatever else that I got from the HP 18. A little drying.

Finish - Short-ish, unlike the reign of King Harald. Spicy (more reminiscent of ginger now), oaky dryness. Mm. Lingering smoke and some caramelized apples.

Overall - This is easy and pleasant drinking! Smooth with little burn. Good balance of flavours between the various classic Highland Park flavours. However, this doesn't quite live up to the Warrior billing. Many reviewers of the series have noted this, and I share their opinion, that if you're going to name your whiskies after kings and warriors, could you make your whiskies a little stronger? Perhaps 46% abv? And un-chill filtered would be good too, to give the whisky a little more fat to survive the cold seas. Maybe a stronger concentration would help the whisky display more depth, but alas, it's easier to add water than to take it out.

So, good, but not quite strong enough, both for the book, and the whisky. Hard to live up to the Norse legends of old eh?