Highland Park 17 years 1990 Signatory Vintage Sherry Butt n°15691 - One of 436 - bottled 2008 Cask Strength Collection (Brown)

Scotland, Isle of Orkney. Distillery operational. Owner: The Edrington Group Ltd

Owned by the Edrington Group, Highland Park remained for a long time somewhat of a niche malt reserved for connoisseurs and well-informed enthusiasts, notably due to its kinship with Macallan. The distillery drew its quintessence from this relationship and the access it afforded to perfect mastery of sherry cask ageing and beautifully sculpted casks. The rest comes from the island's natural, cultural and geographic heritage. Established in 1798 on Orkney, a wind- and wave-swept island where Viking blood continues to run through the veins of its inhabitants, Highland Park produces a traditional malt, characterized by its lightly peated barley which is malted on site. Although the bottle shape evolved at the turn of the 1980s, the style remained the same until the late 1990s. Playing on a profound sherry register in which subtle notes of iodine and peat smoke highlight its almost mystical Celtic temperament, Highland Park has today come completely out of the shadows. It is one of the most legitimate distilleries in the collectibles world due to its history, the consistent quality of its malt and the breadth of the range.

A single cask (#15691) from the Highland Park distillery, distilled in 1990, aged in a sherry cask and bottled in 2008. Signatory Vintage's founder Andrew Symington first joined the whisky industry when he began selecting casks for Prestonfield House Hotel in Edinburgh. In 1988, the adventure continued when he founded Signatory Vintage, investing in a small bottling chain set up in his warehouses in Edinburgh. He began releasing editions bottled at cask strength without chillfiltration or colouring, practices that were still rare in the late 1980s. The legendary series of “Dumpy bottles” notably included information previously seldom seen on labels, such as the cask number, cask type and number of bottles. The bottle number was also written by hand. Signatory Vintage developed a strong reputation by selling not only iconic whiskies from well-known distilleries (Springbank, Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Bowmore) but also bottlings from very rare distilleries such as Ben Wyvis, Glen Flagler and Killyloch, and of course the many versions distilled in the Lomond stills of Miltonduff (Mosstowie), Glen Keith (Craigduff, Glenisla) and Glenburgie (Glencraig). Finally, in 2002, Andrew Symington bought the Edradour distillery in Pitlochry, in the Highlands of Scotland. Signatory Vintage was moved to the site, along with its warehouses, which face the distillery. A limited edition of 436 bottles.