← Kirkwall cruise guide
food · Kirkwall

Highland Park Distillery: Private Cask Tasting & Warehouse Tour

Highland Park is one of the world's most celebrated single malts, distilled on the same Kirkwall hillside since 1798. A private warehouse experience grants access to maturing casks that never appear in public tastings.

What to expect

The distillery is a 10-minute walk from the pier — a remarkable luxury in a port world. You are guided through malting floors perfumed with Orkney heather-peat, past copper pot stills polished to a mirror finish, and into the cathedral-dark warehouse where casks breathe for decades. At the private tasting table, a knowledgeable host pours expressions spanning age, wood, and finish — drams unavailable in any shop. The pace is entirely yours: unhurried, intimate, and genuinely educational.

Booking
We have not yet verified a bookable operator and price for this one.

Good to know

Highland Park is walkable from the cruise terminal (approx. 1 mile / 20 min on foot, or a short taxi). Book the Ultimate Cask Experience directly by phone or email — it fills weeks in advance during summer. Allow 2–2.5 hours. Designated-driver or non-drinker companions are warmly welcomed.

Sail there

Luxury cruises that call at Kirkwall — book through us, the fare is identical and your concierge stays on your side.

Explora Journeys · EXPLORA IV
14 nights · calls at Kirkwall
from $5,050
View sailing →
Oceania · Oceania Vista
10 nights · calls at Kirkwall
from $5,199
View sailing →
Azamara · Azamara Quest
12 nights · calls at Kirkwall
from $5,269
View sailing →
Oceania · Oceania Marina
12 nights · calls at Kirkwall
from $5,805
View sailing →
See all cruises to Kirkwall →
← Back to the full Kirkwall guide

⚓ Your bucket-list concierge

Doing the whole cruise?

Tell us your sailing and we'll send the bucket list for every port — the operator to call, real prices, and an honest verdict on each ship tour.

We send the plan to your account’s own address — never to one typed into a box. Free, and Google works.