The Dark 17 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky

The first in a two-part series from Highland Park entitled ‘The Light and The Dark’, released to celebrate Orkney’s seasons. ‘The Dark’ is a limited edition, cask strength expression that has been aged entirely in Sherry barrels for 17 long years. Inspired by the winter solstice and their Norse ancestry, Highland Park has created a brooding and powerful single malt that’s darker than a pitch-black Orkney night, heavier than a Viking’s axe and more tangled than his beard.

This is an intensely warming dram, one built to hunker down inside with and shelter from the wild winter weather pounding on the windows. Lose yourself in the heat and the complexity that swirl around like a tempest; fig rolls, roasted chestnuts, cinnamon sticks, orange and polenta cake, lemon pepper, stewed herbal tea, coffee beans, pine sap, Christmas spices, brandy-soaked raisins and the smoke of distant barbeques on the sea breeze.

Only 28,000 bottles were made of ‘The Dark’, each embossed with a serpent dragon from Norse legend, covered in runic writing and encased within an oak cradle that’s also a nod to their Viking ancestry. Its sequel ‘The Light’ is pencilled in for release in spring 2018 and this duo are sure to become collector’s items.

Based in Kirkwall, this legendary Orcadian is Scotland’s most northerly distillery and one of only a handful to still employ traditional malting floor. Orkney’s windswept climate - one that has swept all the trees off the island - creates a truly unique place to age whisky.