15-05-2025
After 100 Years, There's Finally A Single Malt Distillery In Edinburgh
Holyrood Distillery lies in the heart of Edinburgh
I get a lot of questions about scotch whisky. Several times a week, someone asks me for a gift recommendation, solicits my thoughts on what bottle they should try next or sends me a picture of a drink menu, asking what dram they should order. To be honest, I love being a trusted resource. At the very least, I know I can help point someone in the right direction.
In my opinion, there are no bad scotch whisky questions, and I want to hear them all. Until a few years ago, however, there was one question I dreaded.
'I'm going to be in Edinburgh for a few days. What distilleries should I check out?'
I have a good answer these days, but for a long time, my response always started with a question of my own.
'How far are you willing to drive?'
Holyrood Distillery Manager Calum Rae takes a unique, modern approach to whisky making.
Scotland is a lot bigger than it looks. Even if you're vaguely familiar with scotch whisky, you've probably heard of brands like Macallan, Glenlivet or Glenfiddich. Those with a bit more knowledge under their belts might recognize names like Talisker, Lagavulin, Highland Park and Glenmorangie. There's no shortage of whisky distilleries across the Scottish Highlands, Speyside, and Islay. The problem is that Edinburgh and Glasgow—the two most popular tourist destinations in Scotland—are both located in the Lowlands, which is the most sparsely populated region for distilleries.
Let's say a tourist in Edinburgh wants to visit a well-known distillery like The Macallan. Depending on traffic, it's a 3-4 hour drive from Edinburgh to Speyside. The trip gets even more complicated (requiring a ferry ride) if you want to reach Islay or many of Scotland's island distilleries.
It's not that Edinburgh is bereft of whisky attractions. The Vaults is an incredible archive for members of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. The Scotch Whisky Experience is open to the public and offers guided tours, tastings, and dining experiences . Glenkinchie Distillery is less than an hour from Edinburgh and worth a visit, especially if you're a Johnnie Walker fan, but that was the only local distillery option for a long time.
The Lowlands region is finally recovering after a long period of dormancy for malt whisky production. Once known as the epicenter of whisky, there were over 100 Lowland distilleries in the 18th century. Various pieces of legislation by the crown, including the 1784 Wash Act, the 1786 Scotch Distillery Act, and the 1788 Lowland License Act, placed tremendous logistical and financial strain on Lowland distilleries, causing many to falter by the early 1800s.
In the 19th century, the advent of the column still fundamentally altered the way distillers in Scotland produced whisky. With greater access to railways and other transportation infrastructure near major cities, Lowland distilleries began producing grain whisky for use in blends, which gained immense popularity throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Lowlands remain a central hub for grain whisky production to this day. There are six grain distilleries making whisky in the Lowlands—Cameronbridge, Girvan, North British, Invergordon, Strathclyde and Starlaw. Together, they produce over 430 million liters of alcohol each year.
Malt whisky produced in the Lowlands also gained a reputation for being light and delicate in flavor compared to whisky made in other regions. After the market downturn in the 1980s, most of the remaining malt whisky distilleries in the area closed, leaving just two in operation by the mid-1990s. The 21st century has brought a revival to the Lowlands as the entire scotch whisky industry flourished in the 2000s and 2010s.
Casks aging in a Holyrood Warehouse
Holyrood Distillery was founded in 2019, setting up shop in the heart of Edinburgh. The distillery is located next to Holyrood Park in an area of town known as the 'Charmed Circle,' in a building that was once a terminus for trains carrying coal and malt to support Edinburgh's brewing industry in the 19th century. Despite the historic (and quite fitting) site they operate in, Holyrood is anything but traditional when it comes to their business model.
Holyrood was founded by Canadian couple and long-time Scotch Malt Whisky Society members, Rob and Kelly Carpenter, as well as former Macallan master distiller David Robertson. From the very beginning, they sought to push the boundaries of scotch whisky production to create a wide range of flavors not typically associated with a single distillery.
Unlike many legacy producers that adhere to decades (or sometimes centuries) of tradition, new-age scotch distilleries aren't bound by the constraints of legacy production that can restrict the flexibility of larger, stalwart brands. As Rob Carpenter succinctly puts it, 'We don't want to be pigeonholed.'
Holyrood's unusually tall stills allow for a flexible distilling approach.
The distillery takes a thoughtful and deliberate approach to its pre-distillation production, employing a wide range of traditional and non-traditional yeasts as well as heritage and specialty malts to create its whiskies. Depending on the flavor profile they're aiming for, their fermentation time usually varies from two days to five days. They have even experimented recently with a twenty-six-day fermentation to understand its impact on flavor.
Their spirit stills are extremely tall, and the distillery utilizes a purifier with a cooling jacket to precisely control the desired amount of reflux. Their cut points can also vary significantly from one run to the next, ranging from clean and crisp new-make to oily and fruity spirit. Finally, like many newer distilleries in Scotland, they make both peated and unpeated whisky and can use both styles to control the amount of smoke influence they want in each expression, including no peat at all for some of their products.
In other words, Holyrood has the means to craft whisky that spans the entire spectrum of flavor. The distillery operates under the mantra of 'Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.' and thrives on a production model that's always evolving. Distillery Manager Calum Rae says that 'every day is a school day' at the distillery, and this approach means that they'll never make the same product twice.
Holyrood's whiskies are crafted with a variety of yeasts, malts, and cask types
A Scottish play on the word 'amber,' Ambir was crafted with seven different types of malt, ten different yeast strains, and four different cask types. Bottled at 49.8% ABV, this whisky features a sweet and fruity profile.
Ambir appears light gold in the glass. On the nose, I find notes of strawberry, green apple, Greek yogurt and rose petals. This whisky is much richer with water, with notes of cheesecake, orange citrus, and caramel.
Ambir is fruity and creamy on the palate, with notes of red berries, poached pear, clover honey, vanilla, a hint of pink bubblegum and light baking spice. Water brings out a toffee sweetness as well as toasted almond, cinnamon, and baked apple. There's a zestiness to this whisky that's refreshing, and not at all the kind of 'zesty' that's sometimes associated with whisky that's not mature enough.
The finish starts with blood orange, then light brown sugar, a hint of chocolate, banana runts, and dried heather. Water brings a more well-rounded finish, with more cooked fruit, honey, barley sugars, a touch of earthiness, clove, and oak.
Embra takes Holyrood's flavor profile into the lighted peated realm.
Embra is a colloquial term for Edinburgh and is the distillery's foray into lightly peated whisky. Compared to Ambir, this is a much more straightforward product, created with a mere three different malts, seven yeasts, and three cask types, including peated Islay Quarter Casks. It's bottled at 43.6% ABV, but is non-chill filtered.
This whisky presents a pale straw color. On the nose, notes of vanilla wafer, lemon peel, floral smoke and hints of tropical fruit. Water brings out ripe grapefruit, a leafy herbalness, and a touch of ash.
On the palate, notes of apple pie, green melon, white pepper, grilled pineapple, more floral smoke and drying oak. It's oilier with water, with additional notes of shortbread, ginger, and biscuits.
A sharp arrival on the finish brings more pepper, wood smoke, cherry, dried strawberry and clotted cream. With water, I detect a hint of salinity, pears, and a touch of chocolate.
The one production factor that Holyrood can't control is time (though knowing them, I'm sure they've tired to create a time dilation field for their warehouses). Production began in September of 2019, so their oldest stocks are less than six years old as of mid-2025. Holyrood's innovative techniques and flexible approach to whisky making more than make up for its youth relative to the competition. As modern whisky makers have proven time and time again, older isn't always better.
When someone asks me these days what distillery they should visit while they're in Edinburgh, it's easy to recommend Holyrood. It doesn't matter if they like their whisky light and fruity, heavy and oily, sweet or smoky, because no matter their taste preferences, Holyrood is truly making something for everyone.
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