Meet Gordon and Marc
The two whisky makers arrive in Jerez and start with an al fresco tasting of Gordon’s "farewell dram" Sherry Skies.
Hoorah for Jerez
¡Hoorah for Jerez!
In July 2025, after a decades-long career at Highland Park, our beloved Master Whisky Maker Gordon Motion is retiring. In this video series, he invites his successor (and fellow whisky obsessive) Marc Watson for a last hoorah in Jerez, Spain, to get up close to the sherry-seasoned oak casks that, alongside Orkney heathered peat, are crucial to our whisky’s uniquely sweet and subtly smoky flavour.
Step into the cooperage
Gordon and Marc explore the influence of oak and the delicate dance of cask-making.
Why cask toasting matters
Gordon and Marc brave soaring flames in 40º heat, and explain how the toasting of a cask adds to its flavour and character.
The sherry influence
A whistlestop tour of the Sherries every whisky drinker should know – and the influence they have on the oak casks they season.
Pairing Sherry Skies with food
Gordon and Marc take a chance on some unusual (but delicious) Spanish food pairings with Gordon’s wonderfully jammy final Highland Park whisky.