September 30, 2026
A CONVERSATION IN FLAVOUR
In the second edition of its ”Between You and I” whisky—created in conversation with leading talents from the worlds of food, art and fashion—Orkney distillery Highland Park, led by Master Whisky Maker Marc Watson, has partnered with New York-based artist Laila Gohar to create a 17-year-old single malt that, with its elegant spiciness and enigmatic smoke, uses flavour to offer a window into her playful, surreal and endlessly imaginative world.
Available from September 2026, this new edition of Between You and I is all about creating a conversation in flavour, bringing together the expertise and personal touch of Marc Watson with the visionary imagination of Gohar—one of the most exciting talents in contemporary design and lifestyle.
For this special edition whisky, Watson drew inspiration from Gohar’s Egyptian heritage, selecting new American oak casks to bring forward vibrant notes of spice and orange blossom. The colourful packaging, co-created with Gohar, features original illustrations inspired by her interpretation of the whisky.
CRAFTED TO INSPIRE
To create Between You and I x Laila Gohar, Highland Park Master Whisky Maker sampled over 80 casks, taking inspiration from Gohar’s Egyptian Heritage, to seek out notes that would prompt powerful memories and associations when she tasted it.
The resulting 17 Year Old Single Malt offers an invigorating interpretation of Highland Park’s signature style, balancing bright fruit and sweetness with the distillery’s signature subtle aromatic peat smoke. After maturing for eleven years in refill casks, the whisky spent its final years in highly active, unseasoned American oak chosen for its ability to amplify the expressive notes of orange blossom, leather and warming spice.
“Working on Between You and I was an opportunity to step into Laila’s universe and create something deeply personal for her. We drew from exceptional Highland Park casks to create a flavour that would feel like home for Laila, reminiscent of Egypt, underpinned by the subtle aromatic peat smoke and sweetness that define our whiskies,” said Marc Watson, Master Whisky Maker for Highland Park. “It was exciting for me to share this whisky with Laila and hear of how it sparked her imagination, and I can’t wait to see what flavours, memories and associations it’ll spark in others.”
A FEAST FOR THE IMAGINATION
Laila Gohar was the first person to taste the whisky, using its distinctive flavour profile as the inspiration for the release’s creative identity. Her interpretation informed the bespoke packaging, co-created with Highland Park, which combines hand-drawn illustrations by Silja Goetz with layered visual references inspired by Gohar’s sensory response to the whisky.
Inside each pack, a booklet replaces conventional tasting notes with a series of evocative vignettes written by Gohar, inviting consumers to explore the whisky not just with taste buds but with the imagination.
A COLLABORATION WITH LAILA GOHAR
Laila Gohar is a New York-based artist and creative director renowned for transforming food into surreal, theatrical art that blurs the lines between cooking, performance, fashion and design. For Between You and I, Gohar worked with Highland Park to create a release that pairs the distillery’s whisky-making expertise with her unique creative perspective.
“My work is all about reimagining objects, ingredients, flavours, creating something familiar but totally unexpected to spark curiosity and conversation. That’s why this collaboration felt so natural,” said Laila Gohar. “The whisky Marc created for me immediately sparked my imagination. I was taken to my early days in Egypt, to the slopes of a volcano, and to a courtyard in Andalucia, and those are the worlds we’ve been able to share across the packaging. This is something that feels very personal to me, and something I can’t wait to share with the world.”
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
Between You and I by Laila Gohar will be available globally from 24th September 2026, with a recommended price of $160 USD.
ABOUT HIGHLAND PARK
Highland Park was founded in 1798 in Kirkwall, Orkney, by local church beadle and part-time whisky smuggler Magnus “Mansie” Eunson. Over 200 years later, we’re still making whisky on the same site in Kirkwall, Orkney—and still following Mansie’s example by doing it our own way.
Our award-winning whisky is renowned for its unique flavor character fully complex, and expressively deep, which finely balances sweetness of sherry-seasoned oak cask maturation with a subtle hint of smoke from Orkney’s heather-infused peat. Highland Park 18-Year-Old has been named “Best Spirit in the World” on multiple occasions by American whisky expert. F Paul Pacult and was ranked the #1 “Greatest Single Malt Scotch Whisky of the 21st Century” by Robb Report.
Highland Park’s Orkney provenance is what makes us different by nature. Far from the mainland and far from the mainstream, we continue to be inspired by our island home’s awe-inspiring landscapes, temperate climate and creative culture—all of which informs the way we combine craft and creativity to make whiskies that can’t be replicated anywhere else on earth. For more information, please visit: www.highlandparkwhisky.
ABOUT LAILA GOHAR
Laila Gohar is a New York–based artist and creative director whose work sits at the intersection of food, design, and performance. Known for transforming edible materials into sculptural compositions, she approaches food as both medium and message—enchanting, tactile, and visually driven.
