There is no whisky distillery further north in the world than Highland Park. Kirkwall, Orkney sits at 59 degrees north latitude — closer to Bergen than to London — where the Gulf Stream keeps the islands ice-free but the North Atlantic winds deliver weather that has shaped everything from the local architecture to the local barley.
Founded in 1798 by Magnus Eunson — a church officer and illicit distiller of remarkable nerve — Highland Park has been in continuous production for over two hundred years. Eunson was, by legend, the most inventive whisky smuggler in Orkney: at various times hiding his spirit beneath church pews, inside coffins during funeral services, and beneath the very floorboards on which the local gauger stood to make his Sunday address.
Highland Park is one of only a handful of Scottish distilleries that still malts a portion of their own barley in-house, on traditional floor maltings. Freshly-germinated barley is spread across the stone floor and turned by hand with a traditional wooden malt shovel — backbreaking work that most distilleries abandoned decades ago.
The malt is then dried in a kiln fired with Orkney peat. Orkney peat is unlike Islay peat: it is younger, formed from heather rather than seaweed, and gives a softer, more floral smoke character. This is the key to Highland Park's signature — not the aggressive iodine peat of Islay, but something gentler and more honeyed.
In the glass, Highland Park 12 Year delivers on every promise the distillery makes. The nose opens with heather honey and a clean salt sea breeze, then shows beeswax, dried orange peel, and a whisper of vanilla. The peat is present but never dominant — it adds structure and depth without overwhelming the complexity beneath.
In the mouth, sweet malt leads before the smoke arrives in a clean, bracing wave. Dark chocolate and mixed spice emerge mid-palate. The finish is long and warming, with peat giving way to oak and a final note of salted caramel.
"Highland Park achieves what few distilleries manage: it is genuinely complex without being difficult, smoky without being aggressive, and elegant without being fussy."
Heather honey and sea spray on first contact. Gentle peat smoke drifts over notes of beeswax and dried orange peel. A whisper of vanilla from American oak casks. The salt of the North Atlantic on every breath. Given time in the glass, warm malt biscuit emerges underneath.
Sweet malt leads, then the smoke arrives — clean and bracing, like driftwood burning on a beach. Dark chocolate and mixed spice emerge mid-palate. Maritime brine cuts through the sweetness with precision. The complexity is layered and unhurried.
Long and warming. Peat lingers with heather and toasted oak. A final note of salted caramel before the sea air returns. The finish is as honest as the islands that produced it — straightforward, enduring, and quietly spectacular.
Highland Park 12 Year opens The Highland Passage — the first of three expressions, each marking a waypoint on the journey south.