Laila Gohar Turns Whisky Tasting Into A Visual Experience

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Highland Park has released Between You and I, a 17-year-old single malt created with New York-based artist and creative director Laila Gohar. Its packaging and an accompanying booklet turn tasting into a visual and imaginative experience, drawing on scenes Gohar associated with the whisky’s flavors.

Highland Park has released a 17-year-old single malt created with New York-based artist and creative director Laila Gohar, pairing the whisky with illustrated packaging and a booklet of imaginative vignettes. The collaboration, the second edition in the distillery’s Between You and I series, presents tasting as a visual and associative experience rather than relying only on conventional flavor notes.

Highland Park Master Whisky Maker Marc Watson sampled more than 80 casks while developing the whisky, with the process drawing inspiration from Gohar’s Egyptian heritage, according to Design Milk’s report. The spirit spent its first 11 years in refill casks and was then transferred to unseasoned American oak. Highland Park says this approach was selected to bring out orange blossom, leather and warming spice alongside the distillery’s characteristic peat smoke.

Gohar translated those flavor associations into imagined settings for the design. Leather brought to mind ancient artifacts in a Cairo museum; orange blossom evoked a sunlit Andalusian courtyard; and vanilla suggested a tropical volcano beneath a night sky. The resulting packaging was co-created with Gohar and uses hand-drawn illustrations by Silja Goetz, layered with references to those scenes.

The experience continues inside the box. Instead of relying solely on standard tasting notes, the release includes a booklet of vignettes written by Gohar, inviting drinkers to connect the whisky with settings and memories. The product is listed as available globally for $160. The source report does not specify the bottle size, the exact release date or which retailers carry it.

A Story-Led Approach to Tasting

The collaboration treats a whisky’s presentation as part of how consumers encounter its flavor. Rather than limiting the release to a list of sensory descriptors, Highland Park and Gohar link those descriptors to places and images, giving buyers another way to approach a tasting. The concept may appeal to readers interested in the overlap between spirits, illustration and product design, while the booklet offers a guided prompt for people who want more than a conventional tasting card.

It also makes the creative partnership central to the product’s identity: the whisky is described through its maturation and flavor profile, while its outer presentation is built around Gohar’s personal associations. That is a design choice, not evidence that the spirit will taste different to every drinker or that the imagined scenes are objective tasting notes. The reported $160 price places the release at a premium, though the source does not provide a market comparison or details on distribution by country.

The Second Between You and I Release

Between You and I is described in the source report as a Highland Park collaboration series, and this Gohar project is its second edition. The release combines an age-stated single malt with commissioned creative work, including packaging and written material. Its development involved the distillery’s whisky-making process as well as Gohar’s responses to selected flavor impressions.

The production details reported are specific to this whisky: it is 17 years old, spent 11 years in refill casks and then matured in unseasoned American oak. The report identifies orange blossom, leather, warming spice and peat smoke as its flavor references. It does not provide a full technical specification, such as the whisky’s bottling strength, total production quantity or whether the release is limited.

“My work is all about reimagining objects, ingredients, flavors, creating something familiar but totally unexpected to spark curiosity and conversation. That’s why this collaboration felt so natural.”

— Laila Gohar, as quoted in the Design Milk report

Release Details Still Missing

The report says the bottle is available globally for $160, but does not identify the release date, bottle size, alcohol by volume, production volume or specific retailers. It is also unclear whether availability is uniform across markets, since local distribution and pricing can vary. The listed price is reported without a currency-conversion or regional-price breakdown.

The flavor settings are presented as Gohar’s associations, not as independent tasting results or a guarantee that consumers will perceive the same notes. The source also does not provide a full account of the whisky’s composition beyond its stated age and cask sequence, or details about how the distillery selected the more than 80 casks Watson sampled.

Availability and Buyer Details

The reported next step for consumers is to look for the release through Highland Park’s global sales channels and participating retailers. Buyers will need to check local listings for availability, regional pricing and product specifications not supplied in the source report. No further launch events, additional editions in the series or follow-up releases were announced in the material provided.

Key Questions

What is Between You and I by Laila Gohar?

It is Highland Park’s 17-year-old single malt collaboration with artist and creative director Laila Gohar, and the second edition in the distillery’s Between You and I series.

How does the release connect whisky flavors with its design?

Gohar associated leather with artifacts in a Cairo museum, orange blossom with an Andalusian courtyard and vanilla with a tropical volcano at night. Those imagined settings informed packaging illustrated by Silja Goetz.

How was the whisky matured?

According to the source report, it spent its first 11 years in refill casks before moving into unseasoned American oak. It is described as a 17-year-old single malt.

What does the bottle cost?

The report lists a global price of $160. It does not give regional pricing or name specific retailers.

Is the booklet a replacement for all tasting information?

The report says traditional tasting notes have been replaced in the box by Gohar’s booklet of vignettes. It does not say whether retailers or Highland Park provide separate technical tasting details elsewhere.

Source: rss