Orkney’s glorious trio of Whisky Distilleries

If you mention whisky touring in Scotland, people normally think about trawling around Speyside or Islay – but what about distillery hopping on the Orkney Mainland instead?

Highland Park and Scapa are two wonderful distilleries draped in spirit history; Deerness Distillery is very much the new kid on the block, being Orkney’s first new whisky distillery in almost 140 years.

I’m serious here; if you hop on NorthLink Ferries to Orkney, you’ll find not one, not two, but a whole glorious trio of whisky distilleries to tour all within a handily compact area. And the very good news is that this sparkle of whisky distilleries all offer well thought out visitor experiences that add real depth to every dram and gift you whisky memories to linger a lifetime.

Highland Park Distillery

Starting in the centre of Kirkwall you’ll find whisky in the form of the Highland Park Whisky Store, which offers a range of tastings and sells a sweep of the malts from this world famous Orcadian distillery, which dates back to 1798. You could just sit in the centre of Kirkwall savouring a dram of their gorgeous heather-infused whiskies – and that was all you could do while Highland Park was closed – but since spring 2025 you can go one step further and once again explore the Highland Park distillery itself.

Highland Park is a whisky purist’s distillery. It looks and feels traditional and authentic. And that is because it is – in fact it’s one of the oldest distilleries in all of Scotland. They’re already back to 24/7 production five days a week and have recently rebranded their labels to give them a more contemporary chic that should resonate strongly all round the world.

I popped back recently for one of their tours. Brilliantly friendly guide Lee Inkster, a native Orcadian, swept our wee party (me and five lovely German guys) in a wee minibus from just outside St Magnus Cathedral to the hallowed distillery in no time.

My tour was the 90-minute ‘Local Legend Experience’, with myriad other options available, including experiences that culminate in special connoisseur tastings. For a nice change for a whisky tour, it kicked off with a wee dram to start as we watched the evocative introductory film at Scotland’s most northerly distillery. There was more whisky too at the end as we tried the signature 12-year-old, a 15 and a 16-year-old and – my favourite – perennial award winner, the gorgeous 18-year-old.

Lee explains there have been big changes at Highland Park as they really strive to go green, cutting energy use by 20% and also reducing CO2. They have become much more energy efficient following the major revamp with innovations like a heat recovery system that recovers heat from the stills. They still malt 20% of their own malted barley on a malting floor by hand, which is great to see as so few distilleries do now; the rest of their malted barley comes from the Black Isle. I love that the ‘New Kiln’ is 100-years-old and the ‘Old Kiln’ is 50 years older again. Lee explains the local peat they use in the kiln helps give the whisky that signature heather tinge.

Scapa Distillery

Moving just down the road we come to Scapa Distillery, set just back from the famous natural harbour of Scapa Flow. Again it’s another visually charming old world distillery alive with a real sense of history and whisky making tradition. They don’t use peat smoke in their whisky production and I find Scapa a gentler dram without that peat whiff, which some palettes prefer. I’m a huge fan of both!

Scapa has a great location down near the water and just a mile away from a pier is ideally set in an old mill, which made converting it into a distillery back in 1885 easier than it might have been. I can remember when Scapa mainly went into blends. Today the vast majority of their excellent single malts stand on their own with the range focussed around a 10-year-old, 16-year-old and 21-year-old making up their core range. I often find a bit of gentle maritime edge to Scapa, maybe given its proximity to the sea.

Scapa has been shut and re-opened a few times, so it’s great to see it going great guns today, with the warehouses here holding thousands of casks, mainly ex bourbon and sherry, with around one million litres a year produced. Their malted barley hails from Aberdeenshire and Speyside, but they’ve also experimented in using the traditional Orkney bere barley and I’m keen to try the results of that.

I love the palpable sense of tradition at Scapa. They still have a dependable old Porteous mill, boast a 1950s Lomond Still and use some Oregon Pine washbacks. Unlike some mainland Scotland distilleries Scapa does not feel like a factory, with real character that has just grown over the years. The views the stills enjoy are classic too, out over Scapa Flow towards the rugged isle of Hoy.

Scapa offers a range of tours and can also offer transfers to and back to Kirkwall like Highland Park do. They also have a truly remarkable tasting room in front of the distillery peering towards the water. The walls are stone, built Neolithic-style to echo Orkney sights like Skara Brae. There is a massive live edge wooden table and the roof is an upturned boat hull. Marvellous and one of my favourite tasting rooms in Scotland.

Deerness Distillery

Highland Park and Scapa are two wonderful distilleries draped in spirit history; Deerness Distillery is very much the new kid on the block out on the criminally unexplored east of Orkney Mainland. It is Orkney’s first new whisky distillery in almost 140 years.

The Australian couple behind Deerness – Stuart and Adelie Brown – have thrown their hearts and souls into a very impressive operation. They’ve cannily started off offering a superb range of delicious gins, a vodka and a chocolatey liqueur while they wait for their new make spirit to mature in the hallowed oak casks and become whisky. The aim is to produce bespoke whiskies made from local grains, with a ‘grain to glass’ approach. They already offer tours too.

Deerness Distillery also have a lovely café with views out to the water where they sell delicious sandwiches, paninis and salads. They have a wee bar area where you can enjoy tastings of the spirit they make already and the blended malt they’ve branded for now while they wait for their single malt whisky to be born. They’re already selling the rights to casks of it at rates noticeably cheaper than other mainland distilleries I’ve visited this year. I would wish them luck with their embryonic operation, but they seem very switched on so shouldn’t need any luck. This is Orkney after all: world-class whisky distilling country.

By Robin McKelvie
Robin McKelvie is an award-winning travel writer and broadcaster who has been published in over 200 magazines and newspapers worldwide.

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