Choose your own whisky flavour at city’s new distillery

Customising whisky

One of Scotland’s newest distilleries is offering whisky lovers a chance to create their own special single malt to suit their own taste.

Holyrood distillery in Edinburgh, which will be the first single malt distillery in the capital for almost 100 years when it opens in July, is making 100 casks available through The Holyrood Cask Programme.

In an innovative move, it is offering single malt connoisseurs the chance to customise the flavour of their whisky.

This process will start with a flavour consultation with head distiller, Dr Jack Mayo, and co-founder David Robertson, whose long-running career in the industry has included a spell as master distiller at The Macallan.

The discussion will allow the buyer to choose how long the barley is dried and roasted; which yeasts are used for fermentation; the distillation approach and distillation date; and the type of cask for maturation, including its oak species, size and previous fill.

The distillery is focusing on four core flavours – smoky, spicy, sweet and fruity/floral – with cask purchasers able to tailor their choices around those flavours or explore something different.

Three barrel types are available at up to £10,500. The cost includes flavour consultation, whisky creation, the cask, storage for ten years, sampling, insurance, labelling and bottling.

Mr Robertson said: “Normally, if you invest in buying a cask of whisky from a distillery, you are limited to their spirit perhaps with a choice of one or two cask types. But we’re flipping things on their head and giving buyers the chance to design the flavour. By working with me and Jack, they can have a hand in each step of the whisky’s journey and be in control of shaping how the whisky tastes.”

The last working distillery in the capital was the Edinburgh Distillery (aka Glen Sciennes) which closed in 1925.

The Holyrood distillery project cost approximately £6.7m, backed by £5.8m fundraising and will create 30 jobs. It is housed in a Class B listed building dating back to 1835 as part of one of the first railways in the UK.