Highland Park Distillery

Highland Park Distillery. Open: April to October, Monday to Friday 10am-5pm (last tour 4pm). Tours every ½ hour. Also open July & August, Saturday & Sunday 12noon-5pm. November, December, March, Monday to Friday tours at 2pm & 3.30pm. Closed January & February - tours by appointment. Admission charge; audio-visual presentation to Orkney; guided tour of 200 year old distillery; free dram at end of tour; shop; postcard collection.

It is not known when the first distillery was established in Orkney, but there were almost certainly local producers by the middle of the 18th century. However, there were none who had a license to export their whisky outside the islands. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, a number of events combined to drive nearly all the commercial distilleries in the Highlands underground. During 1788 the five largest Lowland distillers became bankrupt after losing a price war with the powerful London gin distillers; consequently the Scottish market was flooded with cheap harsh grain whisky. There were swingeing increases in excise duty during the next decade to help pay for the war with revolutionary France. As a result, most Highland distillers began to work