Sponsored article: Highland Park
Celebrating the past while looking to the future is the focus at Highland Park Distillery on Orkney.
One of Scotland’s oldest distilleries, Highland Park was opened in 1798 and continues to employ many of the same production techniques today.
Yet while the distillery is rightly proud of its heritage, it’s also looking ahead to a more sustainable future.
Major updates currently being implemented at the distillery include the installation of a new heat recovery system that will significantly cut carbon emissions and new stainless steel washbacks that will reduce the amount of water used during production.
As the distillery looks to the decades ahead, it has also rebranded its core range of 12, 15 and 18 year-old whiskies.
At this exciting time for the famous brand, SLTN spoke to brand ambassador Mike McLellan about all things Highland Park.
Why is Highland Park a brand that publicans and bartenders should be familiar with?
Mike: “A huge focus for us is being authentically connected to where we’re from. I think all spirits have a real connection to place – certainly when you’re talking about a brand that is over 225 years old. That means the raw materials that go into it. That means the climate and environment in which you are ageing and maturing your whisky. And it means the culture – the people and the traditions that they’ve preserved.
“We’re also a very balanced single malt. One of the great bits of feedback I get from bartenders is that Highland Park is one of the most balanced whiskies they work with, because it’s got a bit of sweetness, it’s got a bit of smoke from the peat, but it’s much lighter than an Islay. It’s much more nuanced. And then it’s got all those wonderful flavour characteristics that are derived from our sherry casks.
“So really our distinctive profile is that we have this unique kind of peat and our core range whiskies – our 12, 15 and 18 – are all matured exclusively in sherry-seasoned casks. It is the combination of those two things – plus certain aspects of the process and the environment – that really give us the profile that we have.”
What makes the Orkney peat special?
Mike: “The peat we use is totally exclusive to us. It is hand-cut and harvested from a stretch of moorland in Orkney called Hobbister Moor, which is about seven miles from the front gate of our distillery.
“Peat is really the closest thing you get to terroir or provenance when you’re talking about Scotch whisky. It’s made from the native vegetation and flora from a certain region. So it carries certain flavours and compounds.
“When you fire the kiln and you aromatise the barley, those flavours carry into fermentation, into the distillation, into the liquid in the final bottles.
“Our peat is composed largely of Orkney heather, with a very small proportion of moss, and no trees whatsoever.
“Orkney is very remote, very rugged, very beautiful. But, like a lot of the outer islands in Scotland, there’s almost no trees there. Every winter the winds get up to 60, 70, 80 miles an hour, so really nothing grows much above waist height.
“As a consequence, it’s a very particular landscape, that lends itself to a particular peat, which gives us a particular profile.”
What was the thinking behind the new-look Highland Park bottles?
Mike: “We’ve always celebrated our past. And we’re still going to continue to do that, but we want to bring to life modern Orkney – the people that make Orkney what it is now. We want to celebrate this unique landscape, this unique home that we have as a distillery. And we want to think about it in terms of where we are now, but also where we’re going. The landscape that is such a key part of the flavours and the profile of our whisky.
“Lots of the key imagery from the new look and the new brand pays homage to that. It’s got a much lighter, brighter look. We’ve got a new colour palette. We’ve got white flecked with lilac. Heather is a real central theme for us. It influences our flavour so much. It’s something that’s so indicative of the Orkney landscape and we want to showcase that in the look and feel of the brand. And we’re putting ‘Product of Orkney’ front and centre on the bottle. That’s something that’s quite unique to us.
“I think anyone who’s been to Orkney will be able to tell you that it has a unique feel and identity and atmosphere.
“And that’s something we want to share with people and celebrate.”
What role do cocktails have in attracting new customers to the Highland Park brand?
Mike: “Highland Park 12, 15 and 18 all have really unique personalities. And one thing I’ve become a really big advocate of is nailing down serves or pairings or cocktails that I think work specifically with each expression.
“I think that’s really important because a big part of my job – and probably the most fun part of my job, really – is getting to introduce new people to whisky.
“And often the way you do that is not necessarily with a neat whisky. Often, the first neat whisky someone tries, it’s not going to be their favourite drink ever.
“So if you can draw them in with something that’s a bit more accessible but something that really speaks to the flavours of each expression, I think that’s a really good way to bring people into the world of Highland Park and whisky.
“I think it’s got a great deal of utility and it makes a great pairing whisky, a great cocktail whisky, but is also delicious on its own.”
What was the thinking behind the three serves you have created for Highland Park 12, 15 and 18?
Mike: “Part of what we wanted to do was slightly step away from this paradigm of whisky cocktails being very serious and brooding and after dinner, dark rooms and armchairs, and move it a little bit forward to something people would enjoy pre-dinner, with food, with friends or in larger social environments.
“So we wanted to take inspiration from those kind of drinks and styles.
“Aperitivo is something I’m very fond of. That style of pre-dinner, or food pairing cocktails, works super well, and can work in unexpected ways or with spirits you wouldn’t necessarily expect.
“The key for each of these three cocktails is that each one works specifically with the flavours that are in each expression. It’s very closely bonded to the liquid itself.”
The Bloom-ling
Ingredients:
- 35ml Highland park 12
- 25ml pink grapefruit juice
- 20ml bitter aperitivo
- 5ml honey syrup
- Pinch of sea salt (optional)
Method:
- Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker.
- Add cubed ice and shake vigorously for ten seconds.
- Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh grapefruit peel.
Mike: “I think that really fresh, zippy, bittersweet drink really sings with Highland Park. Highland Park’s got a nice bit of roundness and honey sweetness. It’s got some nice citrussy and spice elements to it as well. And those different elements come together to create a really balanced drink.”
The Fara-Way
Ingredients:
- 35ml Highland Park 15
- 50ml coconut water
- 15ml pineapple syrup
- 10ml lime juice
- Soda water
Method:
- Add Highland Park 15, coconut water, pineapple syrup and lime juice to a chilled highball glass and stir.
- Fill the glass with cubed ice and stir for ten seconds.
- Top with soda water and gently mix together.
- Garnish with a fresh mint sprig.
Mike: “We’ve got some real tropical flavours there, which go so well with the flavours of Highland Park 15. Lots of big tropical fruit notes, big vanilla notes. So we brought in some pineapple, fresh lime, coconut, all served long and effervescent in a highball.”
The Trailblazer
Ingredients:
- 40ml Highland Park 18
- 15ml white vermouth
- 10ml Maraschino liqueur
Method:
- Add ingredients to a mixing glass, add ice and stir for 20 seconds.
- Strain into a chilled rocks glass over a large ice block.
- Garnish with a lemon peel.
Mike: “Highland Park 18 has got these dark chocolate, cherry, honeycomb flavours and I think in this cocktail that really comes through.
“You’ll sometimes get people that are quite resistant to the idea of Highland Park 18 in a cocktail, but this drink brings people around.”
