Win A Year’s Worth Of Whisky From Edinburgh’s Holyrood Distillery

Holyrood Distillery – Where Flavour Matters

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to visit Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park you’ll have likely walked past the B-listed home of Holyrood Distillery. It’s a delightful piece of architecture, all rustic brick contrasted by cobbled streets, which has been thoughtfully renovated to suit their to suit their distilling needs.

Built in 1835 as part of the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway, the 180-year-old building was a central part of the city’s first railway, a final destination for carriages pulled by mighty steam engines. Whilst Edinburgh’s subsequent railway history was reawakened elsewhere, another of the city’s famous pastimes has been reignited in its place.

Specialising In Single Malt Distilling

Opened in 2019, Holyrood’s new state-of-the-art distillery is the first single malt whisky and gin distillery the city has seen for almost 100 years.

For those looking to visit, it offers a truly hands-on approach to whisky that places your senses at the forefront of an immersive, hands-on and educational whisky experience. Flavour is at the forefront of Holyrood’s approach to whisky and as a result they’ve done away with heritage, category and tradition. For Holyrood the focus is on experimentation and quality. Full flavour for those with an open mind and an open mouth.

Holyrood Custom Cask Programme

At Holyrood Distillery, they believe that how you experience flavour is as individual as your fingerprint, and this approach has inspired their flagship Custom Cask Programme.

The Holyrood Custom Cask Programme is what happens when you appreciate individual taste. Why bother with mere house styles when you can fashion your own? With the Custom Cask Programme, Holyrood will help you tailor your whisky flavour to your unique preferences. Holyrood don’t just let you to select the size and type of cask, they go far beyond, allowing you to select the recipe itself. They work with you to select your choice of barley, malting approach, yeast, fermentation times, distillation approach and final cask to provide you with a one-of-a-kind spirit that satisfies your unique tastes.

They don’t do this by halves. A visit to Holyrood means an education. They’ll help you read your nose and understand the power of smell, teaching you the four central pillars of the flavour armoury. It sounds daunting, but it’s really not. The friendly distillery team is on hand to guide you through the process, providing a consultative approach to one of only 50 bespoke cask opportunities from beginning to end.

Experimentation And Flavour

It’s not just about bespoke at Holyrood; this core approach to experimentation and flavour is available for everyone to try. With seven spirit options in development, Holyrood boasts the widest flavour range offered by any distillery and an expert team is always at hand to guide you through their four key flavour profiles: fruity, sweet, spicy and smoky. All of which are available to buy in person or online. We’re especially fond of the spicy blended malt offering which brings to mind classic sherry malts in the vein of Macallan and Aberlour.

A short walk from the city centre, Holyrood Distillery is a must for anyone visiting the city who appreciates not just whisky and spirits, but the exciting journey flavour can take you on.

Win A Year’s Worth Of Whisky From Edinburgh’s Holyrood Distillery

Enter now for your chance to win a year’s worth of whisky, brought to you by the first single malt distillery in Edinburgh for almost a century, Holyrood Distillery. With the opening of Holyrood Distillery, single malt whisky distilling returned to Edinburgh city centre for the first time in 94 years.

The new distillery, which also produces a range of gins and gin liqueurs, has a uniquely flavour-driven approach to whisky making. Unlike traditional whisky distilleries, Holyrood Distillery is not bound by heritage. Its priority is flavour and producing a truly delicious range of whiskies through innovative techniques and careful experimentation, rather than sticking to crafting simply one or two house styles.

The new distillery and visitor centre, located in the heart of Edinburgh, is now giving whisky lovers the chance to be part of whisky history with the launch of the most bespoke cask programme the whisky world has ever seen.

The Prize

Holyrood Distillery

To celebrate, we have teamed up with Holyrood Distillery to give away 12 bottles from its Merchants range. These whiskies are a preview of the styles they aim to create at the new distillery. It includes three of each flavour: fruity, sweet, smoky and spicy.

  • Spicy: A blended malt Scotch whisky matured in traditional Oloroso sherry.
  • Smoky: A blended malt Scotch whisky with a rich, intense peat smoke and BBQ notes – a beast of a dram!
  • Fruity: A Campbeltown blended malt Scotch whisky with notes of green apple and pear, lemon and lime, balanced with floral fruit tree blossom.
  • Sweet: A single grain Scotch whisky with notes of vanilla, toffee and crème caramel.

Learn more at holyrooddistillery.co.uk