Highland Park bottles 56YO whisky for £40,000
Orkney distillery Highland Park has released a 56-year-old whisky – its oldest whisky to date, with only 170 bottles available for £40,000 (US$49,437).
Highland Park 56 comes from a never-before-tasted cask from the same line that has produced some of the distillery’s oldest and rarest whiskies. The 56-year-old surpasses the brand's previous oldest release, a 54-year-old launched in February 2023. During his first year as master whisky maker in 2008, Gordon Motion identified 10 ‘exceptional’ casks from 1968. He decided to give the whisky from these casks a second maturation in first-fill, Sherry-seasoned casks. Motion explained: "As casks are natural products, and each of them unique, I broadly know what I’ll get from each, but every now and then I find something interesting that just stops me in my tracks and that’s exactly what I experienced with these 10. "The second maturation has allowed me to push them even further and I know we’ve created something special.” The use of local heathered peat also adds a “distinctive subtle smoke” to the liquid, according to Motion. Motion added: “What excites me most about the 56 whisky is that it has both complexity and vibrancy. Even after all these years, the distinctive character of Highland Park’s Orkney heathered peat stands out. “There isn’t the intense woodiness that I’d typically expect to taste in a whisky of this age.” The 47.1% ABV whisky is said to have an aroma of jasmine, lilac, sweet raisins and cloudy honey, as well as flavours of Seville orange peel, coriander seeds and lapsang souchong tea. The bottle design was inspired by Orkney’s nature and culture with the island’s Standing Stones of Stenness influencing the decanter and presentation case. Master crafter John Galvin and glass designer Michael Rudak collaborated for the second time, after working together on Highland Park 54, to create the design of the brand’s latest whisky. Galvin said: “Highland Park 54 was all about how Orkney was created and the geological make-up of the islands. What we wanted to do for the 56 was to continue this story and explore humanity’s fingerprint on the islands and that dynamic relationship with the land and the use of all the beautiful, natural materials and resources. "When we visited the Standing Stones of Stenness, which are ancient, incredible, and a real celebration of the craft of the people who created them thousands of years ago, this heavily influenced the design. "I pulled through elements and textures created with the 54 to create harmony and I designed the presentation case to stand very proud, the shape is almost an abstract version of two of the standing stones. I used an equal combination of precision engineering and craft to create the presentation case to respect that interaction between human and nature.” Highland Park 56 is available to buy now from select whisky specialists such as The Whisky Shop and Berry Bros & Rudd, and luxury retailers including Harrods. In October last year, Edrington-owned Highland Park unveiled new packaging for its core range of single malts.
