Highland Park Distillery

Overview

2024 / 25 Update - The distillery visitor centre will be closed to guests from April 2024 to 4 March 2025 and no tours will be offered. However, tasting experiences will be offered at the Highland Park store in Kirkwall during this period.

For updates, please consult the Highland Park Distillery website.

Distillery tours do tend to be quite similiar and we have done a lot of them, however, we have to say that we really enjoyed the style of tour at Highland Park as it aims to explain why their product tastes different from other whiskies. Like most distillery tours, you start with a short video that combines romantic images of Orkney with a suitably evocative soundtrack and lots of poetic commentary from the voiceover. So far nothing much different.

You then start on the walk around the distillery premises and things start to get more interesting. Your guide will likely tell you the story about how Highland Park evolved from an illegal still run by a local minister who encouraged large attendances at his sermons by providing free whisky. This minister's illicit still was then shut down by the local Customs Officer. The same officer then spotted a market opportunity and opened Highland Park distillery in 1798.

The first production area that you visit is the Maltings room. Highland Park is one of the few distilleries which retains on site Maltings, but they only do ~20% of the barley that goes into the production of their whisky. You then visit the Kiln room where you can see the old kiln used to dry out the malted barley. The guide explains how a particular mix of peat is used to get the right balance of heat and smoke. The peat is locally sourced from Hobbister Moor, which is to the west of Kirkwall on the A964 heading to Orphir.

After the Kiln room, you climb stairs to the Mash Room where the fermentation process begins. Next on the tour is the Still Room where your guide will explain how the shape of the stills and the lyne arm have an influence on how oily and heavy the whisky will be. Highland Park favours short and stubby stills as they allow a more "oily" spirit to be distilled.

The tour of the production areas ends with a visit to Warehouse No.3 where you are told about the important role that the cask has on the outcome of the flavour of the whisky. You are invited to smell the difference between 2 casks that have both been filled with Aloroso sherry, but one is made from Spanish Oak whilst the other is American Oak. The contrast is surprisingly strong with the Spanish Oak giving a sweet finish, whilst the American Oak results in a lighter citrus finish.

Of course, no distillery tour would be complete without a tasting and Highland Park offer you a sample of their 12 year old.

Read our Travel Blog for more information on the best things to do in Orkney.