Old Orkney 08-year-old DeDr O.O.

Unmistakably HP in the nose and palate. A few drop of water reveals a little musty, almost mushroomy funk - but not much. Being a Campbeltown fan this bothers me none. Mostly bourbon cask influence with just enough sherry cask for depth and dimension. I find the alcohol well integrated, making this an almost dangerously quaffable dram. The finish is medium in length. Heathery, not smoky is the way I'd describe the peat influence, which - in true HP fashion - is rather muted. There is a little grilled lemon and pineapple in the nose as well. Wish I had bought two....

Classic Highland Park.

Decadent Drinks: There’s been a quiet ambition sitting in the background at Decadent Drinks for a very long time. Not another limited release. Not some rare unicorn cask. Something much simpler than that. Ever since the early days, when Decadent Drinks was little more than an idea in Angus’ head, the thought kept coming up: one day, it would be great to have a proper house whisky. Something genuinely good. Something priced sensibly. A bottle people could open on a Tuesday night without first checking the secondary market. The difficulty, as we’ve learned over the years, is that finding truly good whisky at the lower end of the price spectrum is much harder than finding it at the top end. It’s easy to bottle expensive whisky and make it impressive. Doing something affordable that still feels exciting, characterful and properly made, that’s the real challenge. So we never rushed it. We waited. Casks were tasted. Options came and went. Plenty of whiskies were good, but not quite right. The goal stayed the same throughout: if we were going to have a core whisky, it had to be something we were genuinely proud to drink ourselves. Eventually, we found it. This is the result. A proper Orcadian single malt, matured in a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry American oak butts and hogsheads, then bottled at a very drinkable 47%. It’s coastal, fresh and leafy, with soft peppery peat smoke, waxy lemon rind, heather honey and that easy-going Orcadian character that makes you want to pour another glass without overthinking it. The important thing about this bottle is that it isn’t a one-off. This is the first core product we’ve ever released. A whisky we intend to keep around.

Nose: heather honey sweetness, mineral, sea grass Taste: honey, stone fruit. Finish: short, peppery hearth smoke. Very well balanced and displays the dna of the distillery. If decadent drams folks are reading this I really appreciate this price point!

Honeyed, maritime and peated delight

Quite an interesting aroma of a lit school cupboard and herbs. Quite alcoholic in aroma. But the taste is simple and about alcohol. Burns like a barrel. After so short and here it subsides