Highland Park Unveils 56-Year-Old Whisky Shaped By Ancient Standing Stones

Highland Park have released their oldest and rarest whisky, and the 56 year old whisky is inspired by the oldest standing stones in the UK. There are just 170 bottles of Highland Park 56 which hail from the renowned batch of 1968 casks that were hand selected by Master Whisky Maker Gordon Motion.

The 56 year old has been specially selected from an extraordinary parcel of ten casks that were discovered by Master Whisky Maker Gordon Motion in 2008. Despite the whisky’s extraordinary age the distinctive notes of sweet smokiness from Orkney’s heather peat has remained prominent alongside a delicate character from the original re-fill casks. Motion took the decision to elevate the 1968 casks by combining them in five new, first fill casks to create an exceptional complexity.

For the presentation of this iconic whisky Highland Park worked with master craftsman John Galvin and Glass Designer Michael Rudak who have looked to Highland Park’s home island, and the Standing Stones of Stenness, for inspiration.

Rudak worked with Highland Park for the 54 year old release from the same parcel, but this time the design, like the whisky, has evolved. The Stenness Stones were originally built around 5,400 years ago, which makes this one of the oldest henges in the UK. Enigmatic, tactile, and shaped by people, the climate and time, the henge is a poignant inspiration that reflects many characteristics of the 56 year old whisky itself.

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