Scotland, Isle of Orkney. Distillery operational. Owner: The Edrington Group Ltd

Owned by the Edrington Group, Highland Park remained for a long time somewhat of a niche malt reserved for connoisseurs and well-informed enthusiasts, notably due to its kinship with Macallan. The distillery drew its quintessence from this relationship and the access it afforded to perfect mastery of sherry cask ageing and beautifully sculpted casks. The rest comes from the island's natural, cultural and geographic heritage. Established in 1798 on Orkney, a wind- and wave-swept island where Viking blood continues to run through the veins of its inhabitants, Highland Park produces a traditional malt, characterized by its lightly peated barley which is malted on site. Although the bottle shape evolved at the turn of the 1980s, the style remained the same until the late 1990s. Playing on a profound sherry register in which subtle notes of iodine and peat smoke highlight its almost mystical Celtic temperament, Highland Park has today come completely out of the shadows. It is one of the most legitimate distilleries in the collectibles world due to its history, the consistent quality of its malt and the breadth of the range.

A Highland Park 27 year old sherry cask distilled in 1988. Cadenhead was founded in 1842 by George Duncan, who was quickly joined by William Cadenhead who renamed the business after Duncan’’s death in 1858. When Cadenhead in turn passed away in 1904, his nephew Robert Duthie took over and turned the business into the independent bottler it is today. After Duthie, it was managed by one of his employees, Ann Olivier, whose stubborn approach to running the business led to much of the stock having to be sold at auction by Christie’’s (London) in 1972 to feed the kitty and save the business. It was then sold to J. & A. Mitchell and Co, who also owned Springbank, and moved to Campbeltown.