A New Approach to Tasting Whisky: Highland Park Partners with Björn Frantzén on 16 Year Old Single Malt "Between You and I"

Highland Park, the Orkney distillery founded in 1798, partners with 3 x 3-Michelin-starred chef Björn Frantzén to launch "Between You and I" — a 16 Year Old Single Malt that offers a new approach to whisky tasting. Instead of traditional tasting notes, drinkers are invited to explore personal memories and emotions inspired by the whisky, mirroring Frantzén's own sensory experience.

With Between You and I, rather than providing a set of pre-defined tasting notes, Highland Park invited Björn Frantzén, renowned for his innovative approach to flavour, to respond to a 16 Year Old Single Malt by sharing the personal associations that it evoked for him.

Within the whisky's complex layers of flavour and subtle, aromatic peat smoke, Frantzén found a wide range of tastes, memories and emotions, reflecting his passion for art and culture and his travels across the world in search of culinary inspiration. Through the packaging, personal notes, and accompanying campaign for Between You and I, he shares these inspirations, and invites others to do the same.

Björn Frantzén, Creative Partner, explains "This whisky is like a conversation between memories, flavours, and places. It brought me back to moments with my grandmother in the kitchen, to tropical beaches, and to the quiet sound of a fire fading in a snowy forest. That's how layered the experience was."

PACKAGING INSPIRED BY TASTE & EXPRESSION

Each Between You and I pack comes in a box customised by Frantzén, featuring a spray-paint design inspired by his love of art. Inside, instead of tasting notes, there's a booklet filled with questions and prompts inviting the owner to experience the whisky in their own way, following Frantzén's lead by exploring the feelings and associations its flavours may evoke.

Björn Frantzén says "I used to do graffiti when I was younger. It's a medium with a lot of confidence and attitude, like the whisky. That's why the pack is designed using layers of spray paint. I wanted it to feel organic, unpolished. Perfectly imperfect. In the design, the burst of warm orange represents the warmth of the fire, while the blue colour and heather below represent the flowing water and the taste of heather peat smoke. The layers of colour over each other, echo the layers of the flavour I tasted in the whisky, revealing themselves one by one."

A COMPLEX, EVOCATIVE WHISKY

After 16 years maturing in virgin Swedish oak (a first for Highland Park), sherry-seasoned European and American oak, and ex-Bourbon casks, Between You and I is smooth and complex, with endless depths of flavour to explore. It has been expertly crafted to spark conversations about flavour, and the unique, personal associations it can evoke—supporting a new, less prescriptive approach to whisky tasting.

Paul Condron, Brand Director at Highland Park says "Between You and I invites people to share their own personal tasting notes and what the whisky evokes for them, from a treasured memory to a favourite song. This is a new way of tasting whisky, more personal and emotional than ever. No two people will taste the same thing. Thanks to the use of virgin Swedish Oak, it's an exciting new expression of flavour for us, but I'm just as excited about the discussions it might start—because when we share our personal tasting notes, we get to know each other a little bit better."

CREATED WITH BJÖRN FRANTZÉN: MICHELIN-CHEF, STORYTELLER AND CREATIVE PARTNER

Björn Frantzén is renowned for his world-class restaurants and innovative approach to fine dining. In 2025, Frantzén made history as the only chef in the world to simultaneously hold three Michelin stars at three different restaurants — a testament to his visionary take on flavour and storytelling.

Frantzén blends Nordic ingredients, French techniques and Japanese cooking philosophy to create three-Michelin-star experiences. He was the first person to taste the whisky, and his personal tasting notes inspired the design of the Between You and I packaging.

Björn Frantzén continues: "Taste is a very personal thing — it can evoke so many memories or emotions. That's what's so cool about Between You and I. For me, it is a totally new way of tasting whisky. So the question is, what will you taste?"

FLAVOURS MEMORIES & ASSOCIATIONS

For Björn Frantzén, the whisky evoked many different flavours, memories and associations:

What flavour do you taste?

"I got this bright, citrusy, orange note. Sweet but with a sharpness to it - like when you zest an orange in the kitchen and the oils drift into the air around you"

What music do you taste?

"For me. Between You and I tasted a little bit like rock music. Not digital, but analogue, handcrafted… People playing instruments and being at the peak of their craft. That was the feeling I got with it"

What memory do you taste?

"When I tasted marzipan, I felt like I was back in my grandmother's kitchen in Sweden, doing the Christmas cooking. The smell of almonds, the cold outside, and the cosiness inside. Pure nostalgia"

What sound do you taste?

"The sound of an open fireplace in a winterland forest, releasing its final breath of smoke into the cold air"

What aroma do you taste?

"When I tasted that hint of crème brûlée in the whisky, instantly I thought of cracking the caramel top. That split second of crunch before the custard melts…There's nothing better"

What place do you taste?

"I got a hint of tonka bean on the nose, which reminded me of being on a beach in the West Indies. Palm trees swaying, warm air, the sound of waves crashing…Total relaxation"

How would you describe the experience in three words?

"Attitude, confidence, and - like my own "relaxed elegance" approach to fine dining—perfection in imperfection"

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

Between You and I by Björn Frantzén will be available globally with a recommended price of $180. For more information, visit the link below.

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 flavour 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.

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.

ABOUT BJÖRN FRANTZÉN - CREATIVE PARTNER

Björn Frantzén is a Swedish chef and restaurateur who has redefined fine dining through a distinctive fusion of precision, creativity, and warmth. He is the only chef in the world to run three restaurants with three Michelin stars each—Frantzén (Stockholm), Zén (Singapore), and FZN (Dubai)—as part of a global portfolio spanning ten venues across six countries.

A former professional footballer turned culinary innovator, Frantzén is the pioneer of "Nordic kaiseki"—a unique blend of Nordic ingredients and the Japanese philosophy of kaiseki, rooted in seasonality, respect, and hospitality. Renowned for breaking with fine dining formalities, he creates experiences that are both refined and relaxed.