About Highland Park Full Volume Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Situated in the Orkney archipelago in Northern Scotland, Highland Park Distillery was founded in 1798 by Magnus Eunson. The name of the distillery is derived not from the region of Scotland known as The Highlands — the Orkney islands are not a part of The Highlands — but rather from the region known as High Park, where the distillery was founded.
Today, over two centuries after its founding, Highland Park Distillery remains one of the few Scottish distilleries that continues to hand-turn, malt, and peat its own barley. "You have to be careful here on the malting floor," says Eric Tait, Highland Park's Maltman. "You find it can get a wee bit slippery underneath. I have to turn the malt every eight hours to prevent the roots getting tangled and to get it all aerated properly. The airing also helps it to grow. The malt will be on the floor for seven days, and I'm running five floors at the moment."
After malting the barley, Highland Park Distillery smokes it using peat sourced from Hobbister Moor, a peat bog located approximately seven miles from the distillery. Hobbister Moor peat is sourced from floral heather bushes, which burn hotter and cleaner than the grassy peats of Islay. Also, the peat sourced from Hobbister Moor has greater derivatives of carbohydrates and a lower concentration of lignin than peat from Islay, giving Highland Park's peat a unique chemical fingerprint.
The peat sourced from Hobbister Moor is "absolutely fundamental in understanding the flavor of Highland Park Whisky," says Russell Anderson, the distillery manager. Together with Orkney's unique environment (the temperate, moist climate of the archipelago results in an even maturation process), the peat gives Highland Park Whisky its traditional malty flavors that are tempered by just a subtle touch of smoke.
Highland Park Full Volume is a limited edition single malt. Distilled in 1999 and bottled in 2017, it is aged exclusively in American oak ex-bourbon casks as opposed to the traditional sherry casks. The inspiration behind this whisky is said to be the expertise of a music producer, highlighting the similarities to the skills of a whisky maker. Both are a masterful art, a pursuit of harmony. “For musicians, amps and equalizers maintain critical balance at high volume by fine-tuning musical frequencies – at Highland Park, our Master Whisky Maker, Gordon Motion, does a similar job” (producer).
The packaging for Full Volume is also inspired by old-fashioned guitar amplifiers, featuring dials on the sides that indicate the different measurements of the bourbon, peat, vanilla and fruit elements. Producer and songwriter Saul Davies created a special piece of music, in coordination with the launch. Full Volume features notes of creamy vanilla, tropical fruits, citrus and just a hint of smoke.
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About Scotch
Scotch is the most popular whisky in the world and is considered the king of them all! There are five whisky regions in Scotland (six if you count the not officially recognized Islands), and each of them produces spirits with unique properties and distinct tasting notes. (The type of grain used determents the type of the scotch.)
Malt whisky is made of malted barley, and grain whisky uses other grains like corn or wheat. Most of the time, a whisky is blended from different distilleries hence the name blended scotch, but if a malt whisky is produced in a single distillery, we get something extraordinary called a single malt.
Check out our impressive selection of scotch whiskies, find your new favorite in the Top 10 scotch whiskies, or explore our treasury of rare & hard to find scotch whiskies.
