Highland Park Whisky Distillery

The Highland Park distillery has recently been reopened after a year long renovation. The tour is lovely and you get to see an actual working malting floor, which is quite rare to see in distilleries these days. Only reason I'm not giving 5 stars is because we paid for The Cask Strength experience, and I don't believe the value was worth the price. Half the whiskies we tried weren't available for purchase. In my opinion, you're better off getting the cheap tour and paying for fancy whisky to taste at the end. The tasting room IS pretty excellent, so it's worth doing the cheaper formal tasting.

Excellent distillery and what i drink at home. I drove around scotland and added orkney via ferry just for highland park. I did the archive experience which was the £300tour. The tour was excellent if you like experiences, if you just based on the alcohol maybe not so much. Tastings were the 18 yr, warehouse 12, freya, thor, light and dark. All samples were 15ml or 1/2 ounce. They do have a drivers kit (little sample bottle) so you can take them all with you if you’re driving. Tour also came with a rocks glass and a signed Britain in a bottle guide book.

Great tour thanks to Sara, she was very helpful, informative and friendly. Her description of the whisky making up tasting really brought them alive. Plus thanks to Lee for the shuttle bus ride, again very friendly and helpful, nothing was too much trouble Overall one of the best distillery tours we have done, highly recommended.

Had a brilliant tour and tasting experience led by Tom today. Tom could answer all queries, and talked through the whisky process with knowledge and infectious enthusiasm. Even though we were holding everyone up by asking loads of questions, Tom, and later his colleagues in the store, were unfailingly polite and good-natured, and we never felt rushed by them, even though it was beyond published closing times on a Sunday evening. We left with some goodies, a purchased bottle, and a warm glow, as fully pledged Highland Park fans for life (we had already been HP drinkers, but this visit really sealed the deal!). Great touch in giving a nice bag and bottles for the drivers/non-drinkers to take missed samplings away - I really appreciated that. Thanks for a great visit.

Amazing tour of this distillery. Staff are amazing and did everything they could to include me as part of the group even though I was using my wheelchair. Very friendly and very knowledgeable but was explained in a way everyone could understand and not all technical talk. Overall I can’t recommend this highly enough. We did the first level tour but it was amazing. Definitely worth it

I and my OH took the Local Legends tour and were not disappointed. Sara, our guide, was very knowledgeable about whisky distilling in general and Highland Park in particular. It was fascinating to learn how the unique flavour is imparted including using barley malted on site. We were given an initial dram of the 12 year old whilst watching the introductory film and then a range of aged malts following our tour. They were all delicious but I decided to buy a bottle of the Swallows Return after due consideration. A special mention is due to Lee who drove us in the shuttle bus from town and back (to our camp site) afterwards. He was so friendly and helpful. I'd also like to give my thanks to the whole team for my birthday card - it really made my day! This is a very friendly distillery and I really enjoyed my visit.

Great distillery, we have a great welcome and the tour was excellent, Rupert was very detailed about the tour he gave us ,one of the best whisky I tasted, worth the travel to visit if you're a whisky lover or not

It is very interesting and impressive. From the booking right through to the tasting, the staff couldn't do enough to ensure that their guests are looked after. The tour that Rupert took us on varied a bit as I use a wheelchair most of the time but can walk short distances with support. There we only 2 areas that I couldn't get to in the wheelchair, however as the stairs and surfaces were excellent, I was able to get to the 2 difficult areas. Rupert was so informative of how the process was completed and how the traditions are still continued, all be it with a modern twist to adapt. There is a lift to the Mash Ton area, so people who are unable to walk can see the process and get a great feeling of how Highland Park Distillery is run. The tasting was excellent, and again, consideration for those who are driving is taken into account. Anyone who attends a tour that comes with a tasting is given small bottles of each whisky presented so that there are no issues with drinking and driving. In fact, Highland Park Distillery's staff encourage those who are driving to enjoy their spirit later. Our tour was 90 minutes long, but it still went far too quickly. Thank you, Highland Park Distillery Staff, for making our visit very memorable.

An enjoyable tasting of 12,15 and 18 year old Scotch whisky. Small group tastings available for $15 per person. Learn about the brand, their process and try for yourself.

Highland Park Distillery is a wonderful experience and tour if you love Whiskey or just want to learn about the whiskey making experience and Orkney Island culture for producing whiskey. It's definitely one of the bigger tourist attractions on the Island and I'd recommend it if it's your fist time traveling to this area. The distillery itself has a presence and easily catches your attention. Once inside the gates there isn't too much to see but there is a lovely little gift shop if you want to purchase some whiskey and collectibles without committing to the tour. Inside the gift shop is where you meet for the tour and once the group is there they lead you into a room to watch a short clip about the the distillery. After that you get the grand tour throughout the distillery learning about the process and history. It's a great easy paced tour and very informative. Kate was our guide and she was so lovely and knowledgeable. I also appreciated that she welcomed questions throughout the tour and did a really good job of pacing us smoothly and clearly explaining every detail. The tour we purchased was about an hour and that was enough for me to see it all and leave with an appreciation for the craft. At the end of the tour we got to sample some whiskeys up in their tasting room which was lovely. Gifted with a free little whiskey sipping glass we were on our way. All in all a 5/5 for price, professionalism, and experience. Learning about this distillery and the process to make their whiskey was informative and fun. My only upgrade would be for them to provide transportation from the ports to the distillery in a company van of sorts. If you are coming on as a big cruise line we found it super challenging to find taxis to get up to the distillery based on all of the people in town. While the distillery is only a five minute drive it could easily be a 30+ minute walk (or more) as it's all uphill. It took us about an hour running around town to find a taxi, we were lucky we didn't miss the tour! We kept thinking given how big of a tourist destination this distillery is it would make sense for them to have some kind of a shuttle. Seemed like the main way people got here was by hiring a private driver/tour bus for the day. Otherwise others expressed the same upgrade that they either had to scramble to find a taxi or literally, they asked townspeople to give them a ride once they were halfway up the hill feeling winded and not sure they could walk on. Pro tip: hire a driver in advance or hope you can hail a taxi if it's less busy that day in port.

Highland Park Distillery is the northern most whisky distillery in the world! I feel like epic music should follow that statement so take a minute to think about some epic music. Located in the Orkney Islands Highland Park Distillery was founded by a captivating and most entertaining man whose stories the tour guides will happily regale you with. Much like every distillery the tour starts with a short video followed by a tour of the facility where you get to learn all about the process. I will say this - the rooms where they store the barrels are among the most fragrant that I ever have experienced and most intoxicating. I particularly liked this tour because it had some tactile elements where you could touch various items within the process. My friend loved that! As he is a huge fan of heavy peat whisky he loved being able to hold a handful of peat and just smell it. Our tour guide, a young man who wouldn't be able to legally drink in the U.S., was very informative and entertaining. He did become a little nervous when our tour group's numbers mysteriously swelled beyond the maximum allotment but everyone minded themself and no one was lost. The whole facility was great. It was historic, fantastic experience and one I would recommend!

I'm not the biggest fan of whiskey, but I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed this tour. My family and I did the viking legends experience tour, which let me warn you, involves quite a bit of whiskey. First of all: I was a bit nervous about booking this tour, as the entire exchange was through email and involved no "official" confirmation. However, the shuttle bus pick up was there on time and easy to find (across the church - pic attached) - highly recommend taking the shuttle as the distillery is up a very large, steep hill. The tour involved being split into small groups (our group had about 10 people) with a movie about the history of highland park first on the schedule.. along with your first whiskey tasting, of course. Our tour guide was amazing! Unfortunately, I don't remember his name as the whiskey hit me a little harder then I'd like to admit, but he was super knowledgeable and made the tour really enjoyable for whiskey novices like me. I took a ton of pics, which I think is an easier way to see what's involved in the tour, especially given the rather complex "whiskey language" involved. After the tour, we went into a private room for my favorite part: the whiskey tasting!! There were six different whiskeys, and oh boy, EAT BEFORE YOU GO because if not, you'll find yourself way past tipsy. This was a really cool experience because you actually get to taste whiskeys that they don't even sell anymore, so def take advantage! My favorite was #4 (the highland park freya, I believe), which they don't sell anymore. The viking legends tour concludes w/a free whiskey glass, book on highland park history, and a certificate (wooo!). Overall, this tour was a great value and super interesting due to the very knowledgeable staff! Highly, highly recommend doing this tour even if you're not a whiskey fan yourself.

We had taken a cruise around the British Isles and one of the excursions available was a tour of the Highland Park Distillery in Kirkwall, Orkney, UK. This was what my husband was looking forward to because this is his favorite whiskey. They do not bottle the whiskey here, it is just the distillery. An amazing fact - they only have 24 employees. Most things are still done by hand, including the shoveling of the hops. We were split into small groups for the tour. A movie was shown first, then a wee tasting of the whiskey. While it seemed that everyone appreciated it, I couldn't tell the difference between any of the ages. We were given three tastings and afterward, we were able to keep our shot glasses as a souvenir. My favorite part was being able to hold of piece of the peat that had been dug up. (It has a wonderful peaty smell). We were also able to hold some of the hops in our hands and were told how they waited to use them until they sprouted a little. After the tour, we were led into the shop where you could purchase some of their product. Would I come back here. If I'm ever in Kirkwall again, I will. And that's the way it is.

The most northerly distillery in the UK and the first distillery tour I made it around without having to go outside and puke up from the smell! Just a shame they weren't actually producing when we arrived for our tour. I really enjoyed our visit here, even though it was rather too early in the morning to be sampling whisky! I will say that it was a good few years ago we were here, but sometimes some things are just too memorable not to highlight so I will break my rule about reviewing places I haven't been to recently. The whisky is great (and I don't even like the stuff particularly) and the tour super informative - it made a great impression on me!

This is a very attractive and pristine looking distillery on the outskirts of Kirkwall. We didn't do the tour but instead enjoyed our time having a wee nosey around the distillery shop and a bit of a blether with a staff member. I think his his name is Ross and that he is one of the tour guides. His knowledge and enthusiasm for the product was infectious and we didn't need much persuading to make a purchase. That said, there was no sales pressure at all, just the way I like it!

Anyone who has been to Orkney knows that the small town of Kirkwall can seem lonley and bleak under the harsh weather conditions. But the cold Orkney village is known for having some of the best, and most frequent rainbow appearances which brighten the sky and give Orkney the litte bit of warmth is needs. This is exactly how I would describe this distillery - the little bit of warmth that gives Orkney that extra fiery kick. The distillery has been running since 1798 and has battled on through years of sever floods and threatening winters. It's a decent size distillery for where it is situated and produces good quality heart warming single malt whiskey. The guided tour is pretty interesting and takes you round step by step how the whiskey is produced and matured like any other distillery. When we went and visited we were the only people on the tour since it had only just re-opened from flooding problems, the free whiskey tasting at the end was more than needed to bring my toes and fingers back to life! I really enjoyed this distillery despite the cold rain since it had a warming quality of it's own since being a smaller more intimate building. I find the larger distillery's lose this quality and become more "factory" like. I would definitely visit again, and not only to buy more whiskey!

A friendly distillery with a nice dram at the end. Unusual in that it's one of the few distilleries to still have a malting floor. This would be a mouse's paradise but for the fact that the distillery keeps a few charming cats, giving a simultaneously organic and nuclear solution to the problem.