Visiting Holyrood Distillery: a shock to the system
From the three distilleries my wife and me visited at the end of December 2024, I wrote my entry for Tom’s Dram Diary about Holyrood the last. It was actually the first distillery we visited when we landed in Edinburgh. We had a cold and fantastic day in the city, walking the Princes Street Gardens, watching all the preparations for Hogmanay (the party was eventually cancelled due to bad weather). We climbed the long stairs upwards to the Royal Mile and had a fantastic lunchbreak at Deacon’s House Café. The day progressed and via Royal Mile Whiskies, a visit to the legendary Vaults, and dinner at Whiski, we finally took an Uber to the distillery.
A visit to the Holyrood Distillery, I found, is difficult to describe. In the next few days you will read my stories about Port of Leith Distillery and a visit to Rosebank, but Holyrood was a challenge. Holyrood proved to be more of a sensory experience, and I am not even talking about the tasting we had after seeing the operation. It was just … it was a Saturday evening, our cheeks were rosy, the smells of whisky production, a very nice guide called Chris, a receptive audience. It was just a load of fun. So yeah, the need to describe the temperatures of the water of the mash here, it is just not that high.
Whisky for the fun of it
The distillery in the city centre of Edinburgh had the first spirit flowing from the stills in September 2019. Since then, the Holyrood team has experimented their way into oblivion with almost every conceivable variation in yeast, barley and fermentation time. During the tour, the guide let us sniff some contrasting spirits, like ‘regular’ new make compared to spirit made with chocolate malt. Nothing better than comparing on the spot. These guys make whisky just for the fun of it. I have never been a beer person, but Holyrood did give me this vibe of pure pleasure and breaking through ceilings like I find in the craft beer community. As a very traditional single malt man myself, it is quite a shock to the system to see a distillery deviate. I grew up in a time where a cask finish was still frowned upon, so go figure.
A tour past the Holyrood equipment is quickly conducted. All is fitted into one big room, so you can see the mashtun, washbacks and beautifully tall stills all at once. These stills are a sight to see, reminiscent of the Glenmorangie stills in size and elegance. It must have been a painstaking business to install everything. Holyrood is housed in the goods building of the St. Leonards railway station. All was and is protected to the rafters, so if you want to move one stone, twenty people look over your shoulder to see if you do it correctly. The result is something to be proud of!
Tasting new Holyrood releases
I have to confess that my first encounter with the Holyrood single malt whisky, a 3 years old, was not the best experience. This Arrival bottle was a very middle of the road expression, which felt like a wrong signal to give when experimentation and delightful weirdness is your selling point. During our “Behind the cask” tour, we got to taste the second and third single malt released by Holyrood. These are called Embra and Ambir. These offerings exploit the two sides of the whisky spectrum. The Ambra is vatted from a big load of bourbon casks, some virgin oak and a few quarter casks from an Islay distillery that releases a regular Quarter Cask expression. The slight peaty tang pleased me a lot, but was not everybody’s favourite exactly because of that. Those enthusiasts preferred the Ambir, a now 4 year old Holyrood matured on first fill bourbon casks with a finish on oloroso sherry. Displaying all the characteristics of such a recipe, it led to cheers. In any case, we took some travel size bottles home, including the third sample we got to taste. I opened that one at home, for a proper tasting note down below. In any case: if you are clinging to all the traditional ways a single malt whisky can be produced, I wholeheartedly recommend you visit Holyrood Distillery for something delightfully different.
Holyrood Distillery Exclusive Cask, bottled at 62,8 % abv
First things first: This Holyrood matured for 3,5 years in a bourbon barrel. It was made with Distiller’s and Brewer’s Yeast and bottled from one single cask, numbered # 5. The 20 cl sample size bottle was filled in October 2024.
Upon Sipping: What I liked during the tasting after the tour, and now again back home with the glass on my tasting table, is the incredible fudgy, caramel nose on this Holyrood single cask. Just by smelling, you can predict the palate will feel very oily, thick, fat. The tears in the glass seem to underline this. The high abv does not hurt it, but we will dilute in a second. First a sip, that indeed proves to be full of caramel delight. Almost like syrup dancing on your tongue. Some vanilla gives power to a hot and spicy finish, that indeed opens up an invitation to dilute a little. The aroma turns more into dark bread now, with seeds on top of it. Hot out of the oven, nice! Fresh wood too. The brownish taste remains on the tongue, the fudge is strong, with some added chocolate influences. The finish is pleasantly warming me long after the tasting ends.
Word to the Wise: Glad I got a bottle. Even though the recipe actually points towards a more regular Scottish recipe, the taste is not your average vanilla bomb. The spirit has a lot to offer. Looking forward to see Holyrood remake the landscape towards a geeky, craft whisky business.
Score: 86 points.
Geef een reactie