Highland Park 12 Year Old
The Edrington Group · Highland Park Distillery, Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland
Highland Park 12 is the great balancing act in Scotch whisky. It’s peated but not aggressively so, because Orkney’s peat is infused with heather rather than the woody roots found on Islay — the result is floral smoke rather than campfire smoke. Add in the sherry cask sweetness and the unmistakable coastal salinity from water drawn from Cattie Maggie’s Spring for over two centuries, and you get a whisky that bridges the gap between Speyside smoothness and Island intensity. It’s the single malt that converts people who think they don’t like peat.
Nose
Heather honey, apricot, orange marmalade, gentle smoke, sea salt, tobacco
Palate
Full and rounded — honey and sea salt, white pepper, cereals, warm oak spice, herbaceous depth
Finish
Starts with sea and smoke, then sweet malt creeps through with lingering warmth
- Maturation
- European and American sherry-seasoned oak casks
- Chill-Filtered
- Chill filtered
Cocktail Suggestion
Cocktail — The Orkney Penicillin: 2 oz Highland Park 12 · 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice · 3/4 oz honey-ginger syrup · 1/4 oz Laphroaig 10 float. Shake first three ingredients with ice, strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice, float the Laphroaig on top. Garnish with candied ginger.
Food Pairing
Pair with: Smoked salmon with crème fraîche and dill — the gentle smoke and sea salt in both create a seamless pairing.
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