Highland Park is stepping into the light with a new look for its existing range of 12-, 15- and 18-year-old award-winning single malt whiskies, inspired by the natural beauty and creative spirit of its home in Orkney.
Rolled out globally from October 2024, the reinterpreted design marks a new dawn for the centuries-old distillery, as it celebrates the many ways in which its unique Orkney provenance and community inspires it to make a different kind of whisky.
Highland Park was founded 226 years ago in Orkney, an archipelago off the northeastern coast of Scotland. It’s a place that’s not only renowned for its craft heritage, wealth of neolithic art and visionary adoption of renewable energy strategies, but also its awe-inspiring natural environment, defined by dramatic coastlines, long summer days and spectacular sunsets.
The warming waters of the Gulf Stream create a temperate climate that’s ideal for the long aging of whisky. Trees find it difficult to grow in Orkney’s windy weather, meaning the islands’ peat is infused with floral heather, rather than woody roots. This peat is used to create a distinctive whisky with a subtle hint of aromatic smoke that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world.
It’s this unique natural and cultural context that gives Highland Park both its distinctive ethos and its distinctive award-winning flavour.
The new packaging design pays tribute to Orkney’s ethereal light and invigorating climate in its fresh, bright and contemporary colour palette, while nodding to Highland Park’s unique flavour with heather-flecked labels bearing the updated logo.
The brand’s dedication to craft and creativity is celebrated in a subtle wood-grain pattern inspired by its dedication to using the finest sherry-seasoned oak casks, while its distinctive glass bottle shape has been updated to allow the natural colour of the whisky, derived entirely from the cask, to shine through. Further celebrating the whisky’s unique provenance, a “Product of Orkney” icon has been proudly cut into the glass.
As part of the redesign, Highland Park is also launching new packaging across the global travel retail exclusive editions of 14-, 16- and 18-year-old whiskies that tell stories of the land, sea and sky of Orkney, with packaging featuring subtle bands of colour inspired by each strata.
Highland Park’s Global Brand Director, Paul Condron, said, “For Highland Park, everything comes back to Orkney, from how we craft our whisky, to how it gets its distinctive taste, to the incredible community of people, who do things their own way. We’ve been here for more than 200 years, and the beauty and creativity of our island home continues to inspire us, as well as the unique flavour of the local heathered peat, which, with the new packaging design, is now celebrated, front and centre. We’re excited to share this new design direction for Highland Park, which truly reflects the freshness and modernity of our Orkney home.”
Highland Park’s Master Whisky Maker, Gordon Motion, added: “Our 12- , 15- and 18-year-old whiskies sit as the heart and soul of Highland Park. It’s Orkney’s heathered peat that gives us our subtly smoky flavour and it’s as unique as the place it’s made. We know that’s what our community really love about Highland Park.
“With the packaging update, we have a great opportunity to celebrate a new look, whilst continuing to share the distinctive, consistent whisky we’re famed for. It’s a flavour that just can’t be replicated anywhere else in the world.”
As part of Highland Park’s continued commitment to sustainability, the redesign will see the new bottles contained within 100% recyclable cardboard cartons, made from FSC-certified forests.
