Highland Park 17 years The Light

About the Highland Park 17 years The Light

Highland Park 17 years The Light is a single malt Scotch whisky from the Island region of Scotland. Highland Park distils on Orkney, in Kirkwall, the northernmost single malt distillery in Scotland. This expression is bottled at cask strength, aged for 17 years in refill American oak. That is unusual, since the distillery is best known for rich sherry cask maturation. The result pours pale gold, sweet and fresh rather than dark and brooding. Highland Park has distilled whisky on Orkney since 1798, one of Scotland's oldest working distilleries. The distillery still malts its own barley on site, using peat cut from local moorland. That peat carries more heather than most, giving Highland Park spirit its floral, honeyed base. Orkney's wind and salt air also shape the whisky as it rests in the warehouses. Few distilleries anywhere sit this far north, and it shows in the character of the spirit. The Light was released as the paler half of a two-part series, following The Dark. Only 4,500 bottles reached the United States, making this a genuinely limited whisky. One respected critic called it proof that Highland Park does not need sherry wood to shine. In the glass it offers ripe pear and apple, then honey and vanilla underneath. Cinnamon and white pepper add spice before a long, gently spicy, oaky finish. Highland Park 17 years The Light rewards drinking neat, with time to breathe in the glass. A hint of hay and lemon zest lifts the aroma before sweeter fruit comes through. There is a faint medicinal note too, a trace found across many Orkney malts. It suits drinkers who already know Highland Park and want to taste it differently. Served neat, it stands as one of the distillery's most distinctive limited releases.