Holyrood Distillery
The tour pours new make, the clear spirit that goes into the cask before it is whisky at all.2
Why go
Holyrood opened in 2019 as Edinburgh's first single malt distillery in nearly a hundred years, in a converted Engine Shed on St Leonard's Lane about 15 minutes' walk from the Royal Mile.31 Scotch Whisky reported the site was built with the visitor experience at its heart, with the operator forecasting 45,000 visitors in the first year and 200,000 by year five.1 The distilling program is described as experiments with heritage barley strains, different yeasts and unusual cask finishes.3 Tasting several new makes side by side is the part of that program a visitor can actually check, since it isolates barley, yeast and fermentation from everything the cask does later.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the new-make comparison on the tour. Forbes's whisky columnist writes that visitors are encouraged to taste their way through different types of new make.2
- Avoid: expecting an aged house malt. Spirit has only run here since 2019.
What locals & experts say
- Felipe Schrieberg, Forbes (June 2025), on what the place is for:
This urban distillery is a true pioneer with its exploration of new make spirit (the clear, vodka-like liquid that goes into a cask and eventually becomes whisky).
2 - No critic has assessed the whisky. No review of a Holyrood bottling has been published, so the judgment above is about the visit.
Good to know
- Booking: tour slots sell out across August every year. Book ahead rather than arriving on spec.
- Hygiene: Food Hygiene Information Scheme Pass, inspected 23 April 2024, filed under Manufacturers/packers.4
- Sites: the company holds three separate Edinburgh registrations. This page is the distillery at 19 St Leonard's Lane. The spirits merchant shop at 71-73 St Leonard's Hill and the Royal Elizabeth Yard site each carry their own record.
- Getting there: St Leonard's Lane sits under Salisbury Crags, a short walk from the foot of the Royal Mile.
Verdict
could-visit — A working single malt distillery inside the city, which Edinburgh did not have for most of a century, and a tour built around new make rather than around a finished dram. That is a genuinely instructive hour for anyone who wants to understand what goes into a cask. It stops at could-visit because the spirit is young, no critic has assessed the whisky, and the visit is the product.