Scotch
Highland Park – An 18-year-old single cask from one of the whisky world’s wildest refuges
Dec
From the Orkney Islands comes a Highland Park single cask, single malt with exemplary pedigree and outstanding flavour. Buy it today and you’ll get a second 18-year-old as a free gift
In a stunning new pricing model, the Single Malt Shop is offering a complimentary bottle of Highland Park 18 standard release with every purchase of its rare single cask 18-year-old edition.
This exemplary release from the Orkney Islands’ distillery matured for its 18 years in a refill sherry-seasoned European oak cask. Hand-selected by master whisky maker Gordon Motion, its goal was to amplify and perfect the signature flavour of the Highland Park range.
Ambition
Undoubtedly, Edrington has the ambition as well as the resources to make Highland Park a global name, but in doing so, it is holding fast to the island distillery’s home place. If ever a whisky was truly rooted in its environment, then Highland Park is it, and the brand’s latest global campaign, featuring local residents and distillery staff, reflects this well.
Located in a cluster of 70 islands, some 19 km (around 10 miles) from the Scottish mainland, it’s a hub of rugged coastline, wild environments, megalithic tombs, and ancient peat bogs. For a product so deeply attached to wood, Highland Park makes its whisky in a place where trees struggle to grow. The wind runs so harshly across these islands that the peat bogs are devoid of wood, their layers of rich sediment driven instead by generations of heather and other flora that have decayed and slowly turned into the lifeforce of Highland Park’s peated whisky.
Located in the town of Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney’s largest island (also known as the mainland to locals), Highland Park is a distillery of prestige. Its owner, Edrington, is rarely behind the curve when it comes to giving whisky brands room to grow. One of the most-coveted whisky brands in the world is already in Edrington’s stable – The Macallan – while another sibling in the group – the Glenrothes – is steadily gathering pace in Highland Park’s wake.
515 Bottles
The rare single-cask edition is one of only 515 produced in an exclusive collaboration between Highland Park Distillery and the Single Malt Shop. Distilled in 2002, it was matured in a refill butt and bottled in 2021 at 57.4% ABV.
On the nose, you’ll discover sweet, toasted oak, vanilla fudge and roast almonds. This leads to a palate rich in cinnamon, spice and sweet floral peat, with a wonderfully complex finish. This rich and elegant pour is an outstanding chapter in the Highland Park story.
