Holyrood Distillery Reviews Summary

Guide and Tour Experience

Pros:

• "It was a great experience... the atmosphere, enthusiasm and passion with which Neil spoke about Whisky and the distillery were fantastic."
• "Our guide was also really welcoming and made sure that he explained us everything with utmost detail."
• "Our guide was Stewart, always ready for questions and he has the right balance between information and jokes :) Funny guy!"
• "The guide Bryce was amazing! Very good in explaining the technique of gin and whiskey production, but also keeping it simple and easy to remember."
• "Our guide, Elsie (hope I got the spelling right), was very knowledgeable and fantastic communicator."
• "Fantastic tour! A new distillery trying all kinds of new techniques! I've not tried New Make Spirit before so that was interesting. Very enthusiastic tour guide."
• "Really excellent experience and a big shout out to Bryce who was very patient in answering all of our questions and letting us try multiple products."
• "We had a lovely guide called Stuart. He made our experience ten times better. He had a great sense of humor en knew a lot about the stuff he was telling us about the gin and malts."

Cons:

• "Considering there was already no whiskey it would have been nice to have the tour done by someone with expert knowledge who had been working in the industry for years."
• "Rating the whisky tour: Simply not good. We had a guide who was neither knowledgable nor a good story-teller which makes a bad combination."
• "Took the whiskey tour...the place is clean and new, but; although the guide was professional and knew all about the distillery process at this particular distillery, he admitted he was not a distiller himself."
• "Limited tour though the guide tried to be as enthusiastic about what we saw as he could be."
• "the guide, under the pretext of being cool, made answers up (which were factually wrong)."
• "Very poor experience. For starters, there are no reduced rates for people who won’t drink the samples (being visibly pregnant). The whiskey tasting and tour is 25 pounds and you don’t get much. The distillery is nice and new, but our guide was not very informative."
• "Despite the signs out front and the website ect saying they do whisked tours and they're the first single malt distillary in the last 100 years in Edinburgh.... They do not have any whiskey yet only producing gin at the moment.... Stuff looks great if Thats what you're into."
• "Poor customer service you call the phone number they provided and you cannot get through to speak to a sales advisor."

Quality and Variety of Tastings

Pros:

• "We learned so much about the distilling and aging process, and got to taste some of the new makes along the way, which were excellent."
• "We chose the 'Half and Half' self-guided tasting, which paired local beers with Holyrood's two-year-old spirit. The smoky flavor was a standout."
• "Really enjoyed tasting so many different types of whiskey and learning why they taste the way they do!"
• "The smoky flavour was a standout. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable, and we had a great chat with one of the bartenders."
• "We had a really great Gin Tour at Holyrood Distillery! First we got a cocktail and sat down listening to Bryce telling us all about the history of Gin which was interesting en greatly told."
• "We then did the whiskey tour and tasting. Everything was explained to us in detail, we got to learn a lot and the whiskeys were fantastic."
• "We did the tour and tasting of 4 whiskies they were delicious each with its own unique flavour."
• "Very interesting and fun. At a whiskey shop we went to, they sort of talked down the whiskey, but it was very cool and the whiskey (or tasting) they gave us was very good."

Cons:

• "It was a fun experience! I bought quite a few bottles back but be aware that you won’t be tasting any whisky."
• "What would have made it better is if there had been a very clear up front communication that there won’t actually be any whiskey as part of the whiskey tasting because the distillery is so young they don’t have any barrels that have aged the 3 years that’s are required."
• "The information about the distillery was great and our guide was very knowledgeable. We were, however, disappointed that when we booked a tour of a 'whiskey distillery with samples included' there were no samples of actual whiskey."
• "Was a bit disappointed with the tour. The guide was knowledgeable and friendly but it is advertised as a gin and whisky tour. Unfortunately there was no actual whiskey to taste and only one gin taster."
• "The tour was given the alcohol that goes into the barrels before it ages to become whiskey which basically tastes like flavoured ethanol (it’s horrible)."
• "Had a tour booked as part of a birthday present. I really enjoyed it. The people at the bar were friendly, knowledgeable, and informative. The tour guide was bouncy and held my attention, and knew what she was talking about."
• "The young destillery is nice to watch. However, the 'whiskey' that is offered to taste, is no whiskey. It has not been in a cask for three years, it therefore has a clear / water-like colour. It tastes like a fruit brandy (Obstler / Palinka). That was very disappointing."
• "This was an awesome experience - one of the highlights when visiting Edinburgh for work. Our tour guide, Rebecca, was really knowledge and very friendly. The hour long tour was exactly what we were wanting - a thorough look into the process of distillation and what the distillery staff are aiming for in terms of taste and quality."