I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect walking into Holyrood distillery. I was recommended it by a contact of mine and wasn’t told much else. I booked the tour along with the others and didn’t really think much of it, mainly as the website is quite unassuming and just uses a standard modern styling. All this is to say I effectively went in blind. What I wasn’t expecting to find when walking though the quiet neighbourhood and into the facility was the distillery equivalent of the love of my life.
Holyrood is a young distillery, only 6 years old, however they’ve made some serious strides in that time. In their shop they have a massive array of products for such a new operation, with a large variety of gins, vodkas, cask aged rums and, of course, scotch single malt whiskies. The building’s aesthetic is, as my partner described it: “industrial-rustic”. Sleek black and white paint on sheet metal contrasted with hand crafted stone bricks, it’s quite the look!
My group was led by Diego Medrano, who I unfortunately couldn’t find any socials for, which is a shame as I really wanted to give him his dues for a really interesting and passionately explained tour. One thing as well I want to highlight is the audience engagement on display, something I wish more tours did. Diego actively quizzed us and asked us to guess things like the ABV of the spirit we were drinking, or any flavour notes we tasted, or even general knowledge about whisky production. It’s just a lovely addition that makes the experience connect to me as a guest that much more!
In the first room we effectively get an icebreaker, with everyone saying where they’ve come from (somehow in a group of 15 people I was the only English one)! We are immediately told that Holyrood is known as the “mad scientist” of the scotch industry and loves to experiment, which is a sentiment I can’t express how much I resonate with! After that we are given a quick breakdown of the fundamentals of whisky production, as is standard, before we move onto the next room, which is the lab.
In the lab we are explained in more detail the theory and fundamentals behind the malted barley that is chosen, and how this is the first step the Holyrood take to break the mould.
Diego shows us different barley types, starting with distiller’s barley as a plain malt, and going onto more exotic ventures like brown malt, crystal malt and, my personal favourite, chocolate malt. We all got to smell the difference in each of these, which is a fantastic addition, and I’m telling you now this isn’t where it stops. While here we get to try our first sample, one of two new make whiskies they sell: Light Munich Malt. I quite enjoyed it!
Next we head down to the main distilling area. Here we have the mash tun, washbacks and two copper stills, as standard. However, there are a few neat things about this area I want to call attention to. There’s a blackboard which shows what is currently being made in the mash tun, as well as chalkboards around the room filled with information about different ingredients, like the aforementioned malt, but also predominantly yeast! These go more in depth about different yeast strains, the flavours they contribute, and Diego even went in depth about how they can be to handle.
It was just so nice to see the amount of effort being put into making sure someone new to whisky understood the difference the grains and yeast can make to a spirit. This is further emphasised by us being given our second serving of new make, this time it was: Brewer’s X Distiller’s yeast. This was to emphasise the importance of yeast esters in flavour, as the only thing that provides flavour to this spirit is the one yeast strand that produces flavour compounds. I wasn’t as keen on it as the Light Munich Malt, but the room seemed pretty split on what they preferred.
Now we entered the cask aging room, the area where the importance of aging is explained. Some new knowledge was brought to my attention here, like the amount of liquor that can still be in a pre-used cask’s staves (up to 5 litres), as well as how much casks like this cost to purchase. But the main meat of this segment was trying the tour’s final 2 drams, both aged whiskies this time.
The first was Embra, an ex-bourbon cask that was a bit more on the citrusy side, with caramel and a light bit of peated smoke. It was alright, but a little subdued. The second was Pitch, an ex-sherry cask that was certainly a lot more powerful. It was juicy, chocolatey, nutty and had hints of coffee. I much preferred this, though it needed a little dilution to not overwhelm me.
Normally that would be the end of the tour, however I got the chance to try one more dram; a single cask bottle that had sold out over a year ago and was never coming back: Holyrood Cask #24. This dram was… amazing, there’s no way to sugar coat it. Cask #24 had a powerful peat and fiery burn, but was somehow balanced with the soft, sweet palate of fruits and vanilla, with a little twang of mushroom just to round out the end with a bit of playful weirdness. Truly fantastic work.
Honestly that sentiment of “truly fantastic work” resonates throughout the whole distillery. Everyone there truly seems to care for what they make, and want to make it the best they can. Not only that, they want to make something NEW! I applaud any distillery that tries to push the boundaries of what is normal, but especially a scotch distillery!
An example of this is actually right in the first room; in a cabinet I spotted a spirit type I’d heard existed, but only once or twice. Holyrood actually made cask aged gin. I can’t explain how much I want to try that, but I couldn’t convince them to let me!
This post may feel a little off from usual, and there’s a reason for that. Normally I’m upbeat and excited about a distillery I visit or a dram I review, but that passion has a ceiling which it doesn’t go past. But this? Walking into Holyrood with zero expectations and finding a distillery that shares my values so well I feel like some version of me from the future could have been the one that founded it? I’m overwhelmed with emotions, excitement and, quite frankly, unending praise. I love this distillery and the work they do. Keep it up guys, I’ll be back soon.
I promise.
This post’s recommended song is: “Where The Action Is” – The Waterboys
