Our whiskey, like our island home, is shaped by the wild climate and stormy sea and the Vikings who settled here more than 1,000 years ago, leaving their mark on our people and our culture.
The history of Highland Park has always been closely linked to the Vikings off the north coast of Scotland. From ancient times to the present day, Highland Park has always been a benchmark for the production of high quality single malt Scotch whiskey.
From about 800 to 1468, Orkney was ruled by a series of Viking counts, some extremely wise and others, I must say, extremely evil. Their stories are vividly enlivened in the Orkneying saga, The History of the Earls of Orkney, written around 1200, and their influence lives on today.
In the early 9th century, when long Viking boats left the coasts of Denmark and Norway to navigate unexplored waters in search of new lands to conquer, they encountered Orkney. And so our small cluster of 70 islands scattered off the far north coast of Scotland was swallowed up by a vast Viking kingdom and ruled by a series of Viking counts.
The legend of Magnus
Of all the Earls of Orkney, Magnus Erlendson was the most famous. But if his life was filled with virtues and wise counsel, his death was the fruit of jealousy, betrayal, and intrigue. Killed on the orders of his cousin Haakon, shortly after his death, stories of miraculous healings appeared around the places of his death and burial. Thus was born the Legend of Magnus. Eventually proclaimed a saint, his remains were finally buried in St. Magnus Cathedral, built in his honor about 100 years after his death.
Under new management
In 1468, King Christian I of Norway and Denmark ceded our islands to Scotland as part of his daughter Margaret's dowry to James III, King of Scotland. This action may have ended more than 600 years of Viking rule in Orkney, but it did not end our relationship with the Vikings. Our islands had become home to the earliest Viking settlers - and it was a home they never left. Today, one in three islanders carries the DNA of the Vikings, and we, the Orkney people, feel strongly connected to our ancestors, sharing their pride, integrity and fierce independence. At Highland Park, we rightly claim that our whiskey was created by the modern souls of the Vikings.
Once a Viking, forever a Viking
Our founder Magnus Eunson was a direct descendant of the Vikings. A butcher and church worker during the day and a smuggler at night, he laid the foundations for his illegal activities in High Park, overlooking Kirkwall - still the site of Highland Park today. We say that our distillery was founded in 1798 - but in fact this is exactly the year in which the authorities finally managed to capture Magnus. Whiskey has certainly been produced here before! With the exception of the smuggling operation, very little has changed over the years to this day. We remain true to the demanding standards of whiskey that made our founder present, and we share his bold and uncompromising approach. In fact, we can say that we are a whiskey created in the old way by a new generation of Vikings.
Single malt whiskey from Highland with a Viking soul!
