Holyrood Distillery

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“​Definitely a must if you like whisky and are not so square about the traditional way, as this distillery makes its own experimental (delicious!!!) whisky, and taking a guided tour is definitely the best way to try it and learn about their process. ​Our guide, Courtney, was fantastic and taught us so much about how they make both their whisky and gin. The whole tour was fascinating! Afterward, we enjoyed a great cocktail at their bar, and the team helped us pick out the perfect bottle to take home from the shop. ​Super friendly staff, delicious spirits, and a really charming small distillery. Simply perfect! 👌🏼”

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

“I recently visited Holyrood Distillery and came away feeling a bit torn about the whole experience. The standout part was definitely our guide. He was friendly, clearly knew his stuff, and did a great job keeping everyone engaged, no matter their level of whisky knowledge. Whether you were a seasoned enthusiast or just curious, there was something interesting to take away. I especially enjoyed hearing about Holyrood’s experimental approach ie playing around with different barley varieties and yeast strains to shape flavour. That’s where the distillery really feels unique, and it was genuinely fascinating to hear the thinking behind it. That said, the experience didn’t quite live up to the expectations it set. The guide spoke enthusiastically about several whiskies that sounded fantastic, but frustratingly, none of them were available to taste or buy. It felt like we were being asked to imagine how good they were, which was a bit disappointing. My main issue, though, was that parts of the tour felt more like a sales pitch than a whisky experience. There was a lot of focus on their gin, and other products, while the standard tasting only included one whisky, and it didn’t really impress. Apart from that one dram of whisky, you also get to try a wee bit of gin and a Chevalier, which was probably, taste-wise, the best of all the standard drinks (oloroso single cask excluded) I tried there. After hearing so much about innovative maturation and cask blending, the whisky itself came across as fairly straightforward, mostly like a typical bourbon-matured spirit, and didn’t really reflect the ambition they’d been talking about. I did pay an extra £10 for the premium tasting, which included a cask-strength Oloroso sherry-matured whisky. That one was excellent: rich, complex, and easily the highlight of the visit. I also tried the Burgundy cask release, but found it a bit flat and not particularly memorable. Holyrood is still a very young distillery, and it feels like they’re still figuring out exactly what they want to be. The experimentation with barley and yeast is genuinely exciting and could lead to some really distinctive whiskies down the line. Right now, though, the tour doesn’t quite show that potential. If anything, you leave thinking more about the whiskies you didn’t get to try than the ones you did. Overall, there’s a lot to like about Holyrood and plenty of promise, but the visitor experience feels a bit uneven at the moment. I’d be really interested to come back in five or ten years. I have a feeling their best work is still to come.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Great tour. Loved to hear the pioneering move of this distillery basically putting whiskey production back on the map in Edinburgh which historically had all 45 distilleries shut down. The guide also works in the distillery which made it more interesting. He was very open to questions and found engaging ways to interact with the audience. The tasting was particularly well run whilst moving through the various stages of the process. Recommend it.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“Highly recomend to join a tour. Very interesting to have a tour within a "working" distillery. A big thank you to Holly our tour guide - it was a pleasure that you accompanied us and get us so many insights into Gin and whisky brewing tasks as well as the historic information. You did a fantastic presentation! And tasting was delicious as well”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“We had an excellent whisky distillery tour from Holly! It ended up being a "private tour" as we were the only ones signed up for the last tour of the day. It was great! Loved to see and learn the process including the new make versions of the whisky and smelling the different dried barley. After the tour we tried the gin and whisky flights at the bar- delightful!”