Whisky City Edinburgh
Issue 161 | Whisky Magazine 27E
dinburgh boasts a
compelling heritage as a
centre for whisky blending,
with the focus firmly on
the Port of Leith, where
many of Scotland’s leading distillers had
blending and warehousing facilities.
However, Edinburgh also played host
to a number of malt distilleries over
the years, including Glen Sciennes –
where Edinburgh’s last malt whisky
was distilled in 1925 – Bonnington,
Canonmills, Dean, Lochrin, Sunbury,
Yardheads and Abbeyhill.
Abbeyhill – also known as Croft-
an-Righ (‘the croft of the king’) – was
operating as a distillery before 1825,
and closed around 1852. It was situated
near to the Palace of Holyroodhouse,
and the new Holyrood Distillery is
located to the south of the Abbeyhill
site, by Holyrood Park on St Leonard’s
Lane. Holyrood is based in the
characterful 180-years-old B-listed
engine shed building that dates back to
1835, when it was constructed as part
of the Edinburgh & Dalkeith Railway.
It is a joint project between former
Macallan master distiller and Rare
Whisky 101 partner, David Robertson
and Rob and Kelly Carpenter, founders
of the Canadian branch of The Scotch
Malt Whisky Society.
£5.8 million of funding has been
provided by 60 private investors from
around the world and £1.5 million from
Scottish Enterprise’s investment arm –
the Scottish Investment Bank.
At the time of writing, the first spirit
is due to flow in the next few weeks,
with commissioning of the distillery
taking place during late June or early
July, followed by its opening to the
general public.
According to David Robertson, “All
the kit was made by LH Stainless, which
operates out of the former Towiemore
Distillery on Speyside, and by its
associate company Speyside Copper
Works, which crafted the stills. They are
very tall, partly because that suits the
styles of spirit we want to make, and
also because aesthetically it fits wellwith the building. At seven metres tall,
we believe these are the tallest, smallest
stills in the industry.”
The distillery boasts a capacity of
250,000lpa and Robertson adds, “We
will be producing five styles of spirit:
floral, matured in refill American
and virgin oak casks; fruity, aged in
American oak, ex-wine and ex-sherry
casks; sweet, matured in American
oak; spicy, aged in European oak ex-
sherry oloroso, amontillado and Pedro
Ximénez casks; and smoky, matured in
European and American oak casks.
“We also have plans to experiment,
test and learn on a ton of others styles:
malt-driven, yeast-driven, spirit-driven
and, of course, wood-driven. We will
do whatever we think we can to drive a
rich, differentiated flavour.”
A company spokesperson adds that,
“Our visitor centre will be unique:
a hands-on, sensory, educational
experience that will enlighten and
delight people as they explore the
world of flavour while touring a
working distillery.” It will include the
opportunity to see gin distilled as
well as whisky, as Holyrood is taking
production of its gin range ‘in house.’
Holyrood is also offering an
innovative cask programme, where
participants can choose from a wide
range of permutations relating to
everything from yeast varieties through
distilling ‘cut points’ to size and type
of cask. The key selling point is that
any one of the 100 people taking
part actually gets to make the spirit –
alongside head distiller Jack Mayo or
David Robertson – and fill it to cask.
While Holyrood is set to be the first of
the full-scale new Edinburgh distilleries
to produce whisky, John Crabbie & Co
has beaten them to the draw by filling
casks of malt and grain whisky in late
2018 at its Chain Pier pilot plant in
Granton, some three miles from the city
centre, beside the Firth of Forth.
John Crabbie was a leading light in
the Edinburgh whisky scene during the
19th century, acting as distiller, blender
and bottler from his base in Leith, and026-029-Edinburgh-WM161.indd 27 27/06/2019 12:27