Highland Park

Type: Distillery

The officer who arrested Magnus “Mansie” Eunson later became one of the buyers of the High Park estate and distillery. That turn of fortune belongs to Highland Park’s documented history, a story rooted in Kirkwall, Orkney, rather than the mainland Highlands its name might suggest.

Highland Park stands on high ground at Holm Road, on the southern edge of Kirkwall. Its name comes from the town’s High Park area, where the distillery was founded. The geography needs one distinction: although the name has local origins, Orkney lies within the protected Highland region under Scotch whisky legislation. The name and the legal region arrive at “Highland” by different routes.

Once Scotland’s most northerly distillery, Highland Park has since been overtaken by distilleries in Shetland. It remains the most northerly large distillery. Its island setting and locally cut peat are part of its production story, but Scotland’s northernmost distillery of any size is no longer a title it can claim.

Founding and early licences

Highland Park dates its beginnings to 1798, with a church beadle and part time smuggler at the centre of the story. The producer credits Magnus “Mansie” Eunson with founding the distillery and obtaining his first whisky making licence that year. Other accounts call him a lay preacher, or a butcher and church officer. His place in the founding story is familiar; the descriptions of his working life are less settled.

Official licensing is disputed. Independent trade accounts place the first official licence in 1826, following a change in the law three years earlier. The producer’s 1798 founding and licence account and the independent accounts’ 1826 official licence date are distinct claims, not interchangeable dates for the same event.

Eunson’s legends are more colourful still. In one, he hides whisky under his church pulpit. In another, he conceals casks beneath a cloth and tells searchers they are looking at a coffin containing a smallpox victim. The ruse discourages a closer inspection. Both stories belong to the legend surrounding Eunson, rather than the documented record.

The connection between his arrest and the distillery’s later ownership is documented. In April 1813 a syndicate bought the High Park estate and distillery. Among its members were John Robertson, the officer who had arrested Eunson, and Robert Pringle, an exciseman. In 1818 Robert Borwick and his son in law John Robertson became the official cofounders.

Later history

Highland Park expanded to four stills in 1898, and its last major overhaul followed in 1907. The site retains a late Victorian feel. Trade accounts still describe a four still setup, though the history of the buildings and equipment stretches well beyond the period suggested by the site’s appearance.

Highland Park has also attracted memorable praise. In 1914 Alexander Walker, a grandson of Johnnie Walker’s founder, called it “the only whisky worth drinking”. In 2004 whisky writer Michael Jackson described it as “the greatest all rounder” among single malts. Each judgement captures an admirer’s view, with Walker’s sweeping enthusiasm matched by Jackson’s praise for its breadth.

Trade accounts record Highland Distillers buying the distillery in 1937. Its other distilleries at the time were Glenrothes, Tamdhu, Bunnahabhain and Glenglassaugh. Highland Park then fell silent during the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945. A wartime legend has some of Orkney’s 40,000 service personnel using the washbacks as baths. The closure is documented; the bathing story remains a legend.

Single malt bottling began in earnest in the late 1970s, and the first official distillery bottling appeared in 1979. A trade account records Highland Distillers becoming part of The Edrington Group in 1999. A 2017 trade source names Edrington as owner; ownership beyond that account is not confirmed here by a current primary filing.

Malt, peat and production

Floor maltings and two working kilns with pagoda roofs are among Highland Park’s defining production features. The maltings occupy a building with a Y shaped plan and supply about one fifth of the distillery’s malt requirement.

Locally cut shallow peat dries part of the malt, while coke is used for the rest. Highland Park identifies Hobbister moor as its peat source and says it is the only distillery to use Orkney heathered peat. That claim of exclusivity comes from the producer.

Inside the production setup described by the trade source are one stainless steel mash tun and twelve washbacks. The wash is about 7% strength before distillation. Four stills follow: two wash stills and two spirit stills. Each has a condenser fixed to the outside wall of the still house, a specific feature of the equipment layout rather than a measure of production capacity.

The rising strengths mark the liquid’s progress through distillation. Low wines are about 26% strength, while new spirit is about 70%. These figures describe successive production stages before bottling.

Casks and warehouses

Sherry seasoned oak takes the leading role in Highland Park’s own account of maturation. The producer says casks contribute 60% of the whisky’s flavour and all of its colour. Those are its assessments of the wood’s influence. Trade information gives a broader picture of the casks in use, describing both ex bourbon and ex sherry casks in 250 and 500 litre sizes.

The site has 26 warehouses, part of the distillery complex described alongside the maltings, kilns and still house in the trade account. The available information does not establish the cask recipe for every individual release.

Bottlings and visits

The 12 Year Old is named as Highland Park’s standard expression by one trade source, alongside 15, 18 and 40 Year Old bottlings. Those ages provide a snapshot of the reported range, not a complete present day catalogue. The available evidence does not confirm the current core range or everything currently available, so the list is best read as part of the bottling record.

The Valhalla Collection dates from 2012 and comprises Thor, Loki, Freya and Odin. Valkyrie was launched in April 2017. These named releases form another strand of Highland Park’s bottling history, distinct from the age statement range recorded by the trade source. Independent bottlings use the cover name Whitlaw instead of Highland Park, a useful name to recognise when exploring whisky from the distillery.

There is a visitor centre, and tours include the floor maltings. These offer a direct view of a working part of production, responsible for approximately one fifth of the malt Highland Park needs.

Sources

1. Highland Park, Our Story.
2. The Spirits Business, Highland Park: a brand history.
3. Undiscovered Scotland, Highland Park Distillery.
4. Whisky and More, Highland Park.
5. Wikipedia, Highland Park distillery.
6. legislation.gov.uk, The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009, regulation 10.
7. The Single Cask, Scapa Distillery: Orkney’s Other Whisky, Now With Something to Say.