Review: Highland Park 12 Years Old (2025), Cask Strength: Heather, and “Between You and I”

We’re catching up with Orkney’s Highland Park today with a look at three expressions — one old friend, rebranded, and two new releases that are now gracing shelves and back bars. Don’t be surprised if none of this looks overly familiar; Highland Park recently rebranded its entire lineup (yet again) with new labels, new bottles, and new taglines.

The details for each of the trio follow below.

Highland Park 12 Years Old (2025) Review

Aged in both first-fill sherry-seasoned European and American oak casks. We’ve tasted Highland Park at 12 years old on two prior occasions (including the Viking Honour years). The goofy nicknames are now gone, but the age statement remains the same. The nose is a healthy mix of sweet brown sugar and grassy, almost mossy maritime notes. Light notes of powdered charcoal and wet earth add a savory, more “serious” element, though the overall presentation is considerably sweeter than the 2019 Viking Honour version.

The palate again features a rather sweet character with ample notes of honey, brown sugar, and caramel, then layers of milk chocolate. It’s light on its feet and never far from the sugar bowl — a diversion from the more vegetal 2019 expression, but more in line with the simpler version we experienced back in 2008. The finish finds room for touches of coconut and kettle corn amidst the through-line of spun sugar and applesauce.

86 proof. B+ / $53 [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]

Highland Park Cask Strength: Heather (2025) Review

For five years Highland Park has put out an annual cask strength release, delineated only by a version number and year on the label. 2025 sees that admittedly boring approach shifting, as Highland Park is giving this year’s cask strength offering not a number but a name: Heather, made entirely from 100% Orkney peat-smoked barley. Orkney peat is reportedly heavy in heather vegetation and unlike that in other parts of Scotland, hence the name — and the ostensibly unique flavors we should find in this release, which is matured in first-fill European and American sherry-seasoned oak casks and select refill casks.

As with any Highland Park expression, smokiness is quite restrained on the nose — despite this whisky being made fully with peated barley. Instead, a heavier sherry component dominates, evoking torched citrus and roasted nuts, alongside an earthy, gravelly character. With time in glass, the smoky peaty character becomes more evident — and ultimately dominant after 30 minutes or so.

On the palate, the peat is much more obvious and immediate, a smoky-sweet barbecue sauce quality that would be perfectly at home in parts of Islay. Racy and warming, the whisky might be overwhelming were it not so sweet, with a strong punch of brown sugar, molasses, and prunes. Crashing waves of seaweed combat maple syrup, cigarette ash meets cotton candy. The finish is greener and more herbal, with overtones of rosemary and lime zest. Perhaps this is the vaunted heather finally making its appearance?

As the Highland Park Cask Strength series goes, this is a departure beyond anything I had expected. After spending hours with the dram, I ultimately think the push to peat just goes too far for a Highland Park release. If I wanted Islay, I’d drink Islay, you know? Your mileage will surely vary.

127.2 proof. B / $80

Highland Park “Between You and I” 16 Years Old Review

This evocatively named whisky is a collaboration between Highland Park and 3-Michelin-starred chef Björn Frantzén. Chef whiskey collaborations are not unheard of, but this is the first time I’ve seen Highland Park get into it.

The collab is a bit of a doozy, so restrain your eyerolls while I get into the pitch:

Instead of traditional prescriptive notes, “Between You and I” invites drinkers to explore personal memories and emotions inspired by flavour, mirroring Björn’s own sensory journey. He was the first to taste the whisky, and his impressions directly influenced the pack design.

Matured in virgin Swedish oak (a first for Highland Park), sherry-seasoned European and American oak, and ex-Bourbon casks, the whisky is smooth, complex, and crafted to spark conversation. As Björn frames it, the experience is about asking questions such as:

What flavour do you taste?
What music do you taste?
What memory do you taste?
What sound do you taste?
What aroma do you taste?
What place do you taste?

Björn Frantzén, Creative Partner, explains “This whisky is like a conversation between memories, flavours, and places. It brought me back to moments with my grandmother in the kitchen, to tropical beaches, and to the quiet sound of a fire fading in a snowy forest. That’s how layered the experience was.”

Each Between You and I pack comes in a box customised by Frantzén, featuring a spray-paint design inspired by his love of art. Inside, instead of tasting notes, there’s a booklet filled with questions and prompts inviting the owner to experience the whisky in their own way, following Frantzén’s lead by exploring the feelings and associations its flavours may evoke.

Björn Frantzén, says “I used to do graffiti when I was younger. It’s a medium with a lot of confidence and attitude, like the whisky. That’s why the pack is designed using layers of spray paint. I wanted it to feel organic, unpolished. Perfectly imperfect. In the design, the burst of warm orange represents the warmth of the fire, while the blue colour and heather below represent the flowing water and the taste of heather peat smoke. The layers of colour over each other, echo the layers of the flavour I tasted in the whisky, revealing themselves one by one.”

So that’s the idea. And why not? I’ll play along:

What flavour do you taste? Smoldering wood over a coal fire, hemp, evergreen trees, some torched citrus peel. Nougat and vanilla, to be sure — but both are overpowered by the more savory, woody elements here, which are undulating and lengthy.
What music do you taste? ABBA, “Knowing Me, Knowing You.”
What memory do you taste? When I burned my hand taking the turkey out of the oven on Thanksgiving. No particular reason.
What sound do you taste? My neighbor’s annoyingly massive pickup truck which is so loud it wakes me up in the morning every goddamn day.
What aroma do you taste? I will say I smell these aromas more than taste them, but: brown butter, toasted coconut, sandalwood, sea spray, and a touch of torched driftwood. Some seaweed later, and a touch of lemon peel. Also walking through the perfume aisle at Nordstrom, the men’s cologne section.
What place do you taste? A stroll through Swedish Viking burial grounds. They’re just out there on the side of the road if you drive around the countryside, btw.
How would you describe the experience in three words? ”Woodsy. Nostalgic. Maritime.”

For the sake of comparison, here are Frantzén’s answers to the questions:

What flavour do you taste? ”I got this bright, citrusy, orange note. Sweet but with a sharpness to it – like when you zest an orange in the kitchen and the oils drift into the air around you.”
What music do you taste? ”For me. Between You and I tasted a little bit like rock music. Not digital, but analogue, handcrafted… People playing instruments and being at the peak of their craft. That was the feeling I got with it.”
What memory do you taste? ”When I tasted marzipan, I felt like I was back in my grandmother’s kitchen in Sweden, doing the Christmas cooking. The smell of almonds, the cold outside, and the cosiness inside. Pure nostalgia.” [This one I can relate to.]
What sound do you taste? ”The sound of an open fireplace in a winterland forest, releasing its final breath of smoke into the cold air.” [Same.]
What aroma do you taste? ”When I tasted that hint of crème brûlée in the whisky, instantly I thought of cracking the caramel top. That split second of crunch before the custard melts… There’s nothing better.”
What place do you taste? ”I got a hint of tonka bean on the nose, which reminded me of being on a beach in the West Indies. Palm trees swaying, warm air, the sound of waves crashing… Total relaxation.”
How would you describe the experience in three words? ”Attitude, confidence, and – like my own “relaxed elegance” approach to fine dining—perfection in imperfection.”

So we had some really different stuff there.

96 proof. B+ / $180

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