Highland Park · Orkney
Highland Park's quieter middle child. Heather smoke and dried orange on the nose, sherried fruit and gentle Orkney peat on the palate, a long dry oak-spice finish. The Briarwood house standing pour for any Maduro on the back shelf.
Save $21 on the case of two.
Heather smoke and dried orange peel on the nose. The palate is warm honey, sherried fruit, and a soft Orkney peat that sits in the background rather than dominating. The finish is long and dry — oak spice, toasted almond, the faintest sea breeze.
Style: Island single malt. Cask: First-fill sherry-seasoned + refill American oak. ABV: 43%.
Highland Park is the northernmost Scotch distillery in Scotland — founded in 1798 on Orkney, where the wind off Scapa Flow does as much shaping as the casks do. Their barley is floor-malted in house and kilned with Orkney peat, which is markedly different from Islay peat: drier, more heathery, less iodine.
The 15 Year is the quieter sibling to the 18. Same casks, less aged, more open. We carry it as a standing pour because it sits beside almost any cigar in the house without picking a fight.
The 15 has just enough peat to cut a Maduro's sweetness, and just enough sherry to round out the bitter edges of a long Habano.
We pour the 15 neat at room temperature in a copita, or over a single large rock if asked. The bar has it on standing rotation from 4pm — $18 for a 1.5oz pour, $14 for a half-pour at the tasting bar.
Briarwood Founders members get a 10% standing discount on bottle orders and the option to reserve a labeled bottle behind the bar.
21+ only. We verify age at the lounge with a valid government-issued ID, and at checkout for shipped bottle orders. Adult-signature required at delivery — no exceptions, no porch drops.
Spirits ship only to U.S. states where local law permits direct alcohol delivery from a licensed Tennessee retailer. Tennessee tax and signature handling included in shipping ($28). Allocations ship members-first.
"Highland Park 15 is the bottle I reach for when someone hands me a cigar and asks for 'something that won't fight it.' It never fights it. That's the whole job."
Pairs with these cigars
What James pours alongside this bottle from the back bar. The Padrón is the standing combination — the other two are seasonal rotations.
Padrón
The standing combination. Cocoa and espresso meet heather smoke and dried orange.
$24 / stick
Arturo Fuente
A 30-minute sit. The cigar finishes before the second pour does.
$14 / stick
Davidoff
Almond and hay against the 15's sherried fruit — restrained on both sides.
$38 / stick
This is the bottle I open when I want a cigar to lead — heather smoke and dried orange that sits well behind the leaf instead of fighting it. The 18 gets more press, but the 15 is the quiet workhorse. Paired with the Padrón 1964 Maduro on a Sunday porch and didn't want to be anywhere else.
Bought after a flight at the Briarwood bar — the team's standing rec wasn't a sales pitch, it was correct. Sherried fruit without going syrupy, a long dry finish, and that signature Orkney smoke. Best $118 single-malt purchase I've made this year. Already ordered the case of two.
Came up from Memphis for a cigar weekend and walked out with this bottle. Three weeks later it's almost empty. Toasted almond and honey on the second sip, with the peat barely whispering underneath — exactly what Highland Park does that nobody else matches at this proof point. Cigar-friendly without being aggressive about it.
Excellent dram and a fair price — would be five stars but my bottle came at a noticeably lower fill than expected and the cork was slightly dry. Briarwood handled it well and the whisky itself is exactly the standing pour I remember from the lounge. Heather smoke is restrained, sherry notes warm, finish dry. Would still order again.
