How do you take over an iconic whisky brand like Highland Park from a “Hall of Famer”, who’s shaped and directed its flavour and style of nearly 30 years? And how do you keep its signature taste and feel consistent, so consumers know exactly what they’re getting, yet make it exciting and refreshing?
It’s a problem Marc Watson has been grappling with daily for the last 19 months since he took over the role of Master Whisky Maker for Highland Park from Gordon Motion, who retired in July last year.
Marc’s conclusion? With “trepidation”. But he says of the challenge: “I played high level sport. You want that level of stuff.”
Highland Park is one of Scotland’s oldest distilleries. Founded in Orkney in 1798, it was Scotland’s most northerly distillery for almost 225 years. “It’s an island distillery,” Marc says, “with this incredible sense of place.”
“Highland Park,” he continues, “really encapsulates loads of different essences about what it is to make Scotch Whisky.”
It still has its own malting floor. Peat is still cut from nearby Hobbister moor as it has been “for generations upon generations.”
Yet Highland Park is not a peaty whisky in the Islay sense, Marc says. “I think we’re approachably peated. It’s very sweet the type of peat we have. It’s all heather. And it’s not iodiney. It’s very bright and light and sweet."
The new spirit is distilled in Orkney. And some of it is matured there. Some of it isn’t. But Marc works in Glasgow, “on the bench” at owner Edrington’s blending and bottling facility on Great Western Road, some eight miles north-west of the Glasgow city centre.
Here he puts his “nose to work”, sampling 250 samples a week; 5,000 a year.
As the latest “custodian” of the Highland Park brand, Marc says, “My job is protecting the core, making sure it never changes.”
Afterall, "it's dram everybody knows."
“Highland Park has got such a signature taste and such a signature feel. For me it’s like: ‘Well, how do I keep that same but also excite people at the same time?’ And that’s the job. That’s the exciting bit of the job.”
Join John and Marc as they discuss:
➡️continuing a brand tradition
➡️what Highland Park whiskies mean
➡️following in the footseps of a master - Gordon Motion - who had a spreadsheet for everything
➡️Marc's collaboration with the Egyptian artist Laila Gohar to produce "Between You And I" a 17 year old single malt: "Very rarely have I been asked to make a whisky for a person."
➡️how "rules make you creative"
➡️how Marc's go-to is a highball: "Some of the best whisky experiences I've had have been with some incredible whisky cocktails."
"From a person who makes whisky," Marc concludes, "I feel I've poured everything into making the best whisky I can, and it's up to the consumer to experience it how they want to."
Slàinte!
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Socials: @C2GWhisky | @JohnRossBeattie
Creator & producer: David Holmes
Art work & design: Jess Robertson
Music: Water of Life (Never Going Home)
Vocals: Andrea Cunningham
Guitars: John Beattie
Bass: Alasdair Vann
Drums: Alan Hamilton
Bagpipes: Calum McColl
Accordion: Gary Innes
Music & Lyrics: Andrea Cunningham & John Beattie
Recorded & mixed by Murray Collier at La Chunky Studios, Glasgow, Scotland
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