We’ve enjoyed a strong history with Highland Park’s relatively new Cask Strength lineage, which only launched in 2020—notable given Magnus Eunson formally founded his Orkney Islands distillery way back in 1798 (though legend has it the Viking descendent had been brewing his magic off-the-books for years before that). In 2022 we were first introduced to Cask Strength Release No.2 up in the scraggy glens of Topanga Canyon when Scotch Whisky Brand Ambassador of The Year Martin Markvardsen led us through a tasting of Scotland’s northernmost distillery.
The following year we gathered once again, this time deep in the fog-drenched hills of Big Sur to sample Highland Park’s next iteration of Cask Strength, Release No.3. We loved it so much we made it a Spirit Of The Week. The reason being that unlike other core Highland Park portfolio expressions Cask Strength was envisioned by then Master Whisky Maker Gordon Motion to be a unique experience with each chapter—one never to be exactly repeated (Marc Watson took over the role of Master Whisky Maker this July after Motion’s retirement).
“The Highland Park Cask Strength releases allow me to find unusual parcels of stock, bringing unusual flavors and characters to each release,” Motion told us during our time at Alila Ventana Big Sur. “I want to give everyone who loves Highland Park the chance to experience our single malt whisky in its purest form by bottling ‘straight from the cask,’ but allowing you to choose the strength you want to drink this special single malt.”
Unlike many island-based single malts who use 100% peated malted barley in their grain bill—think beloved Islay offerings from Ardbeg, Laphroig, Lagavulin, Port Charlotte, Kilchoman, etc.—the Kirkwall, Orkney distillery traditionally utilizes mostly unpeated whisky (80%), with a healthy dose of peated (20%) added for good measure—a juice Highland Park distills only a few weeks every year. The result is a whisky with a distinct smoky backbone from the peat, but one greatly smoothed out by the unpeated malted barley. The unique ratio results in a flavor profile that appeals to whisky lovers who want a touch of smoke in their single malt, but who don’t want it to be a dominant hammer like that found in high ppm (phenol parts per million) smoke bombs from many Islay distilleries.
Also unique to Highland Park is their peat itself, as they are the only distillery in the world to use strictly Orkney peat in their kilning process. Even other Orkney distilleries cannot lay that claim. And the singular makeup of Orkney peat is what lends the latest expression its name: Highland Park ‘Heather’ Cask Strength.
“Highland Park always uses only 100% Orkney peat from a small place called Hobbister Moor, and the peat from there stands out quite a lot,”Markvardsen told Maxim a couple weeks ago from a swanky Beverly Hills hotel suite. While we sipped the latest Highland Park Cask Strength, Markvardsen explained that because of incredibly high winds in Orkney, regularly over 100-mph, there are no trees. This means that the peat—decayed plant matter pressed into a dense soil-like fuel over thousands of years—is comprised 95% of heather, along with grass and moss. Compared to peat from other islands like Islay, Orkney peat therefore imparts more pronounced floral hues, ones that lean sweet rather than heavily smoky.
What makes ‘Heather’ Cask Strength groundbreaking in the Highland Park pantheon is it marks the brand’s first expression composed entirely of 100% peated malt—meaning, there is no unpeated malt in the blend. The idea being to isolate the Hobbister Moor peat’s effect on the whisky to highlight its unique qualities.
As with the previous five iterations there is no age statement on this Cask Strength, although Markvardsen does reveal the various woods used in aging—sharing this batch matured mostly in American and European oak sherry casks, with some refills. Bottled straight out of the barrel at 63.6-percent ABV, the Brand Ambassador suggests starting your dram neat, and then slowly adding drops of spring water to open up its bouquet. When we offer the idea of starting neat, but following with a big rock of ice to see where the journey takes you from there, Markvardsen’s eyebrows raise.
“If you ever go to one of my master classes, my first sentence when we taste whisky is there’s only two rules: One, forget about all the rules you ever heard; and Two, enjoy it,” he says cheekily. “Basically I don’t care how you drink it, as long as you enjoy it. ”The highly unique Highland Park Cask Strength Heather will only exist for a limited time before being replaced by the next chapter in Cask Strength, so score it wherever you can near its very approachable SRP of $80.
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