Highland Park will embrace an extended silent season this year, with the doors to the distillery set to close from the beginning of April 2024.
Distilleries undertake an annual silent season when production is paused to allow for essential maintenance. But this year Highland Park will be closed to all guests as a major programme of environmental upgrades, aimed at reducing the distillery’s carbon emissions by 20%, is carried out.
It means that no tours or tastings will be on offer at the popular destination on the outskirts of Kirkwall during the main 2024 visitor season, with the work scheduled to last until the end of the year.
The ambitious project will see a series of significant developments at the 226-year-old distillery. A new heat recovery system will be installed, which will capture heat from whisky distillation to be re-used across the site’s operations, including the process of drying the malted barley used to make Highland Park’s range of Single Malt Scotch Whisky. This will remove the need to burn coke at the distillery, which has been used in the malt drying process for generations.
This part of the project alone will save more than 1000 tonnes of CO2e every year, the equivalent to more than 24,000 flights between Inverness and Kirkwall.
Other work planned will include the upgrading of the mashing and fermentation process at the distillery to help make Highland Park’s water and energy use more efficient, with a new mash tun and 12 new washbacks to be installed.
Visitors keen to sample the spirit of Highland Park will still be able to drop in past the distillery’s official whisky store on Albert Street in Kirkwall, where new tasting experiences will be held during the refurbishment works. Keep up-to-date with news about these and Highland Park’s environmental sustainability journey via the official website.
There are plenty of other tasting experiences to enjoy in Orkney this year. Find out more via the listings below.