room four

the cask room

According to Scottish Whisky Law, our New Make Spirit must be filled into oak casks and left to mature for a minimum of 3 years.

Our casks come from all over the world, with most of them having previously been used to mature other alcohol spirits such as red wine, port, Madeira, sherry, rum and bourbon.

THE NEW MAKE SPIRIT DRAWS COLOUR PIGMENTS OUT OF THE TOASTED WOOD. OILS ARE COLLECTED, ADDING TO THE WHISKY’S TEXTURE.

We also develop flavour with the variety of oak greatly impacting the characteristics gained by a whisky:

american oak

Notes of vanilla, caramel and coconut.

European Oak

Notes of spice, cinnamon and dried fruit.

WE love to mature our whiskies in a variety of different casks, to build complexity of spirits.

Over time, the cask breathes, the whisky will soften and develop a smoother texture. Liquid content is also lost over time, with an average of 1.5-2% evaporating out of the cask in Scotland. The evaporated whisky is called the “Angel’s Share”.

This is a good way of understanding why older whisky is more expensive, as there is physically less of it with every year spent in the cask.

Age isn’t important for us at Holyrood, we focus on flavour.

Our whisky

AMBIR

Ambir is our third Single Malt release, and is a continuation into our journey of progression, innovation and experimentation.

The name (Ambir) comes from the Scots word for ‘Amber’ and was chosen to reflect the relationship between old and new, symbolising how Holyrood incorporates traditional practices with modern thinking.

It is bottled at 49.8%, non-chill filtered and has no added colouring.

TASTING NOTES

Aye. It’s a sweetie…

nose

Caramel creamy fudge, demerara sugar, Scottish tablet.

PALATE

Red fruits, vanilla and cornflakes.

FINISH

Biscuit, velvet texture, mouth-watering, a hint of savoury at the end.

mashbill

SCOTCH POT STILL

Distillers Malt

81.7%

Chocolate malt

Specialty Malt

6.5%

Highland PEATED

Specialty Malt

3.5%

VIENNA MALT

Specialty Malt

2.9%

CARAMALT

Specialty Malt

2.6%

Spring Barley

Distillers Malt

1.4%

CRYSTAL 240

Specialty malt

1.4%

yeast

MG+

Distillers Yeast

56.6%

DY502

Distillers Yeast

21.5%

DY379

Distillers Yeast

14.7%

TETLEY 70

Brewers Yeast

2.8%

PINNACLE

Distillers Yeast

1.5%

BE256

Brewers Yeast

1.4%

S-04

Belgian Ale Yeast

0.7%

US05

Brewers Yeast

0.4%

NOTTINGHAM ALE YEAST

Brewers Yeast

0.3%

LAVIGNE

Wine Yeast

0.2%

maturation

First Fill Bourbon & Second Fill

51.7%

First Fill Bourbon

37.9%

Spanish Oloroso Butt

6.9%

Spanish Oloroso Hogshead

3.5%

Thank you for taking part in one of our Holyrood Distillery experiences. If you would like to extend your time with us, feel free to spend some time in our distillery bar. We have a delicious cocktail menu and a range of local beers from Edinburgh breweries. If you would like to sample any more of our spirits, you can do this in the distillery shop.

Please consider leaving us a review on Google or TripAdvisor – it really helps us out as a small business and ensures that more people can discover us and learn more about what we do.

On the final page is a list of key terms if you want to keep on learning about whisky.

We’d love to know what you thought of our World Language Translation Portal. The link below will take you to a feedback survey. Your comments will help us to continue to make our tours more accessible to all. Thank you!

https://forms.gle/viLihH5a69SNddmo9

If you’d like more information about certain terminology used throughout the tour, follow the link to find our list of key terms.