According to Highland Park senior brand ambassador Martin Markvardsen, the 17-year-old single malt is proving popular amongst collectors and whisky experts around the world.
“The sales figures we have right now are very good because not only are the collectors trying to complete the pair with The Dark, but the on trade also likes the design and packaging,” said Markvardsen.
“Although the sales are going well, it’s not supposed to be sold out in a month, it’s supposed to be sold out in a year until we have something else ready to bring out.”
The Dark was the first of the two-part series which launched in 2017 and Highland Park released a similar series called Fire and Ice in 2016 with the same price bracket, age statement and abv.
“Being honest this is not a recruitment whisky, it’s a connoisseur dram – people who have been drinking whisky for a long time or even collectors,” added Markvardsen.
“We’re seeing that releasing our whiskies in pairs is going well. In the past we’ve done a four-part series but we found it makes collectors wait a long time so when we launched Dark and Light in Hong Kong at the same time it was a huge hit because they were both on the shelves side-by-side.”
The Light is bottled at 52.9%abv and aged for 17 years in ex-bourbon barrels with a limited stock of 28,000 bottles being released internationally. The whisky is said to have tasting notes of pear, vanilla and soft spice.
Markvardsen concluded: “Highland Park has always been known for using cherry casks and European oak, but with The Light we’ve used American oak refill casks and the reception we’ve had around the world for this release has been tremendous.
“We’ve done quite a lot at 17 years old because it seems to be the age statement where we can get all the quality out of the oak and keep the whisky’s character. It’s a whisky with a lot of power but with elegance too.”
