Distillery & Orkney FAQs
Distillery Closure
The Highland Park Distillery and Visitor Centre is closing from April 2024 to undergo a major environmental sustainability upgrade. Once a series of engineering projects are complete, these works will reduce direct carbon emissions at our 226-year-old distillery by 20%. This will ensure its future for generations to come and support our journey to be Net Zero by 2045. To learn more about Highland Park’s sustainability journey, please visit:Environmental Sustainability
The Highland Park Distillery and Visitor Centre will be closed from Saturday 30th March whilst engineering works are ongoing. We will communicate the start date of our distillery tours later this year. Please check the Highland Park website for the latest updates. Guests visiting Orkney can enjoy a Highland Park experience at our Kirkwall store. To learn more and book, please visit: Visit page
We will update our website later this year with our opening plans. You can also subscribe to our Inner Circle newsletter to be kept up to date with Highland Park Distillery news via email. Learn more about the Inner Circle and subscribe here: Inner Circle
We will not be producing whisky whilst the upgrades are being done across the distillery site. Planning has been underway at the distillery in advance of the work beginning to make sure there is no disruption to the long-term supply of matured Highland Park whisky. Our team have been committed to this project since the beginning to ensure both the quality and quantity of our production is consistent.
We have two new tasting experiences for you to enjoy at the Highland Park Store in Kirkwall. Each experience included a tutored tasting from a range of Highland Park whiskies. To learn more about the experiences and book, please visit: Visit page
Flagship Store
The store will be open Monday to Saturday between 10.00am and 5.00pm each day.
Yes, this will be possible.
Distillery Visitor Centre, Experiences and Tours
We are currently offering two different types of experiences at our Kirkwall Store:
Yes, all experiences and tours will need to be booked in advance. We accept all major credit cards including American Express.
Yes - we offer you the chance to sample our whiskies as part of each of the experience or tours. The specific whiskies and the number of samples varies depending on the tour.
Yes - we offer you the chance to sample our whiskies as part of each of the experience or tours. The specific whiskies and the number of samples varies depending on the tour.
We welcome a maximum of 12 guests on The Peedie Experience and a maximum of 8 guest on The Taste of Orkney Experience. All experiences will be accompanied by a tour guide.
We now only accept card payment at the distillery for pre-booked tours and purchases. We accept all major credit cards including American Express.
All of our experiences and tours are strictly for over 18s only.
To change the date or time of your experience or tour booking, email us at [email protected] or call us on +44(0) 1856 885604. We’ll do our best to accommodate changes up until 24 hours before your original booking time, although we’re unable to guarantee availability.
If you arrive late, and your experience or tour has already started, we’ll do our best to accommodate you on the next one available if we can. However, as experiences and tours have limited spaces we’re unable to guarantee that there will be spaces available.
If you have specific mobility access requirements, please let us know in advance of booking so that we can discuss these with you.
We regularly release special editions which are available to purchase exclusively at the Visitor Centre, our Kirkwall Store and in our online shop. You can browse our selection of whiskies available to purchase online here
We hope you enjoy visiting Highland Park, and we’d love to hear your feedback. Your tour guide will be pleased to receive your comments after your tour, or if you’d like to share more detailed feedback with us, you can contact us on [email protected] If you’d like to tell others about your visit, a review on TripAdvisor would be much appreciated.
Be among the first to hear the latest news on Highland Park by joining our Inner Circle here: Inner Circle Or keep in touch with us on our social media channels:
Tours of Highland Park Distillery take place at the Distillery site at Holm Road, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1SU (the “Distillery”), and are provided by Highland Distillers Limited (“we” or “the company”). Highland Distillers Limited is incorporated in Scotland (Registered No. SC158731, with its registered office at 100 Queen Street, Glasgow, G1 3DN.
The following Terms and Conditions (the “Terms”), as well as any information contained in the booking form, booking confirmation or email provided to you, apply to all Tour bookings.
On booking or purchase of a Distillery Tour, whether online, by email or phone, you agree to abide by the Terms outlined below.
We will endeavour to ensure that the information displayed on the website https://www.highlandparkwhisky.com is current and accurate. However, we cannot be held liable for any errors. Use of the website is subject to separate Terms of Use available here; however, in the case of conflict, these Terms shall apply to online bookings of Tours.
Once full payment is made, you will be allocated a place/places on your chosen Tour, and a booking confirmation will be emailed to you.
We accept no responsibility if you incorrectly input an email address on our booking form. If your automatically generated booking confirmation does not arrive via email, please firstly check your junk/spam folder then contact us via email at [email protected] . We will check the email address and resend your booking confirmation(s).
Upon receipt of the booking confirmation email, it is your responsibility to check the accuracy of dates booked.
Experience and tour prices include an alcoholic beverage (more than one for some) for visitors over 18 years old.
We reserve the right to amend the price of our Tours at any time.
If you have booked in advance, the date and time of your Experience or tour will be clearly stated on your email confirmation.
We reserve the right to remove anyone from the Distillery if their behaviour is considered likely to cause offence, put staff or other visitors at risk or create a nuisance to other visitors or staff.
We reserve the right to refuse admission to the Distillery.
The Distillery is a controlled working and manufacturing environment. It’s important that you exercise due care and attention on the tour. Our team may draw your attention to certain health & safety procedures, which we require all visitors to adhere to:
- Smoking or vaping is not permitted in any area of the distillery
- Assistance dogs are welcome. Unfortunately no other animals or pets are allowed
- Visitors are not permitted to access areas of the distillery other than those designated for visitor access
- If the fire alarm sounds during your tour, your guide will direct you to the nearest exit
We operate a Challenge 25 policy. Visitors may be subject to an age check on arrival at the Distillery, and are advised to bring photo identification (“ID”) to the Distillery. If we believe or suspect a visitor who wishes to consume alcohol is under 25, that visitor will be asked to produce photo ID. In the event that you are unable to produce valid photo ID, you will not be served alcohol as part of the Tour and we regret that no refunds can be given.
If we need to cancel your Experience or Tour for any reason, we will try to give you as much notice as possible of cancellation, and you will be entitled to a full refund.
On certain days, or at certain times, some parts of the Distillery may be closed (e.g. for cleaning, maintenance, or for other operational reasons). The Distillery may not be fully operational during silent season although Experiences and Tours will still be in operation. Bookings will not be refunded and no compensation will be paid for Tours during this time.
If you suffer losses as a result of a breach by us of these Terms, our liability is strictly limited to the purchase price of the Experience or Tour. We are not responsible for any loss of profit, loss of business, loss of goodwill, or any indirect, special or consequential loss, damage, costs, expenses or other claims which arise in connection with the Experience or Tour.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in these Terms limits in any way our liability:
For death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
Under section 2(3) of the Consumer Protection Act 1987;
For fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
For any matter which cannot be excluded by law.
We will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations under these terms and conditions that is caused by events outside our reasonable control (“Force Majeure Event”). Our performance under these terms and conditions is deemed to be suspended for the period that the Force Majeure Event continues, and we will have an extension of time for performance for the duration of that period. We will use our reasonable endeavours to bring the Force Majeure Event to a close or to find a solution by which our obligations under these terms and conditions may be performed despite the Force Majeure Event.
Any personal data which you provide us as part of the booking and attending the Experience or Tour will be treated securely and confidentially. We recommend that you review our Privacy Policy for further information about how Highland Park processes personal data, and your rights in relation to your own personal data.
We welcome feedback, and our guides will be happy to receive your comments following your tour. If you prefer to give us feedback in writing, please contact us at [email protected] and we’ll reply within 3 working days.
We reserve the right to refuse to accept a booking for any reason.
If any provision of these Terms is held by any competent authority to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the other provisions of these Terms and the remainder of the provision in question will not be affected.
These Terms and any document expressly referred to in them constitute the whole agreement between you and us and supersede any previous arrangement, understanding or agreement between you and us relating to the subject matter of these Terms.
Any contract between you and us pursuant to these Terms will be binding on you and us and on our respective successors and assigns.
You may not transfer, assign, charge, sub-contract or otherwise dispose of any such contract, or any of your rights or obligations arising under such a contract, without our prior written consent.
These terms and conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the Laws of Scotland, and the parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Scotland.