Holyrood Flavours for the Curious
Fruity, Smoky, Spicy, and Sweet Releases | 46% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Dramming out to a Holyrood quartet is music to my tastebuds
Worth Your Cash or Best to Wait?
Being in Canada, we don’t get much in the way of “while we wait” whiskies from new distilleries in Scotland — the sourced products that get released into the market before the own-brand liquid comes on stream. While this doesn’t give us an idea of their final products, it does provide some insight, albeit theoretical, into the blending ability of the distillery team. If they can assemble a whisky that is tasty, then surely they can vat something similar or better with their own distillate, right?
We do have our own fair share from local distilleries sourcing Canadian or Scottish product to release ahead of their own expressions. Now I don’t know about your local situation, but some of these releases near me have been commanding exorbitant prices: upwards of CAD $110 (£66) for non-age-stated blended malt products. Moreover, they are generally labelled as Scotch whisky, indicating they were distilled, matured, and bottled in Scotland, thereby nullifying my aforementioned assumption regarding the new distillery’s ability to create a tasty whisky. If they are, they are blending it from samples sent to them.
I say, if you are going to release a “while you wait” whisky, please do so on your own terms, either from new make entrusted to you or from barrels that you have purchased and matured at your own facility. Don’t buy someone else’s product, slap your flashy new label onto it and jack up the price. That’s just rude. Generally, I’m one to take a punt on random and strange whiskies (rice whisky, for instance), but only when they make fiscal sense or offer something totally different. If you’re blending whiskies I can regularly find as official bottlings or from indies and just charging a higher price, I’ll take a hard pass.
Before these four popped up on my radar, I had never heard of Holyrood Distillery. It’s not surprising, given the recent explosion of new distilleries in Scotland and around the world. A cursory dig later, I found out that this recently founded Edinburgh distillery has some roots in my current city of residence, Calgary, Canada. Co-founders Rob and Kelly Carpenter had decided to abscond from the hustle and bustle of one of Canada’s busiest economic and energy hubs to Scotland and partner with Scotch industry veteran David Robertson. The distillery opened in 2019 in an old train shed in downtown Edinburgh.
“Different mash bills based on traditionally malted barley including heritage strains such as Chevalier but also including varieties such as Crystal and Chocolate Malt further increases their number of styles (currently around 40) of newmake. The newmake is filled into 50% ex-sherry or other sweet wine casks, 25% ex-bourbon, and 25% virgin oak.”
One interesting fact I found surprising: they offer a wide range of new-make spirits on their website. While they have since discontinued the “Flavours / For the Curious” product line that is the focus of this review, presumably in favour of selling their new-make spirit, their presence showed a bravado and confidence in the flavours these white spirits can provide. We will likely never receive these new-make spirit releases over here in Canada, but I would love to know if you have tried them and hear your thoughts.
Regardless, let’s dig into this quaternary of “while-we-wait”s and see if they’re worth it.
Review 1/4
Holyrood “Flavours / For the Curious”: Fruity
Campbeltown blended malt, 2019 release, 46% ABV
CAD $42 (£26), limited availability
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Liquid fruit salad
Nose
Medley of light-fleshed fruits. Summer fruit salad of apples, pears, and a light drizzle of honey. Background vanilla accompanied with a tingle from, likely, the youth of the malt.
Palate
The vanilla and honey notes are amped up and brought more into balance with the green apples and pears. The experience is anchored in a dusting of cinnamon and white pepper. Nondescript fruit notes remain a surprisingly long time after your last sip.
Simply delicious. It is like a hybrid of the Gauldrons and Roger’s Campbeltown blend — but at a small fraction of the price of those two. Clean fruitiness devoid of any typical Campbeltown oily/smoky notes might mislead you to believe it isn’t from Campbeltown; regardless, it’s a very tasty whisky!
This is a 6/10 whisky, but at the price, it gets a full point bump up.
Score: 7/10 BB
Review 2/4
Holyrood “Flavours / For the Curious”: Smoky
Blended malt, 2019 release, 46% ABV
CAD $42 (£26), limited availability
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Unobtrusive
Nose
Clean dry peat smoke. Underneath, a slightly iodine-like peat smoke. “Cold” salinity like you might smell from raw seafood (minus the fishiness of course), ozone, and citrus. Barley sugar.
Palate
Ditto from the nose, plus a dash of white pepper. A few drops of water tamp everything down except the pepper.
This is truly a nondescript blend. I couldn’t pinpoint the source of the base component of the blend as it showcases attributes of many Islay and mainland distilleries, balancing clean mainland-type notes with medicinal Islay-type ones. This is a peaty whisky to keep on the shelf for an unassuming and easy-drinking experience.
Again, this gets a full point bump up from 5/10 for the price.
Score: 6/10 BB
Review 3/4
Holyrood “Flavours / For the Curious”: Spicy
Oloroso matured blended malt, 2019 release, 46% ABV
CAD $42 (£26), limited availability
Score: 7/10
Very good indeed.
TL;DR
Syrupy goodness
Nose
Syrupy sweet like honey, dates, and raisins being reduced into a compote. The nose is very gentle and has no alcoholic prickle — something I was expecting given my assumption of a youthful malt. Behind the sweetness, a touch of nuts and orange citrus pops up.
Palate
Here’s where the spicy moniker comes from: a beautifully balanced experience of cinnamon and nutmeg working together with the syrupy compote, spritzed with some orange zest. The finish is relatively short, but the mouthfeel is surprisingly luscious and syrupy.
Simply wow. It has been a while since I’ve experienced such a syrupy mouthfeel accompanied by lighter fruit flavours. This is such an easy drinking whisky that one could get quite silly quite quickly.
It’s a 6/10 whisky…but at the price, it gets a full point bump up. Well done Holyrood!
Score: 7/10 BB
Review 4/4
Holyrood “Flavours / For the Curious”: Sweet
Single grain matured in alligator char #4 American oak barrels, 2019 release, 46% ABV
CAD $42 (£26), limited availability
Score: 5/10
Average. In a Good Way.
TL;DR
Surprisingly refined, if simple.
Nose
Vanilla, sugar, and mixed fruit cups from your childhood lunch boxes. There is a burnt sugar note that is similar to the smell of brown sugar burning on a pan or the torching of a crème brûlée top.
Palate
Charred vanilla bean pods. Icing sugar-like sweetness. Moderate level of pepper that tingles your inner lips.
70% of the experience of a Compass Box Hedonism at almost a third the price. The char note provides a unique addition to the experience. I would love to know which grain distillery has made this product as it doesn’t have the ‘spikiness’ that I sometimes find with Scottish grain whiskies. Of the four, this was my least favourite, but putting this into a blind tasting, I think it could hold its own and beat out other similar price-point expressions.
No point bump up here. It’s an average whisky at an appropriate price point
Score: 5/10 BB
The Dregs
I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of all four releases. Each provided a unique and distinct experience while remaining true to the naming convention. Well done. The value proposition is also very good, especially given the pricing in my area. These are coming in CAD $10-15 cheaper than the likes of a Glenlivet/Glenfiddich 12 yo, and $5-10 less than Deanston’s Virgin Oak.
So, back to the question I posed at the beginning: are “while we wait”-style releases worth your money? It’s hard to definitively answer my own question…oops. I think these releases can serve as an indicator of the ability of the distillery team to release good whisk(e)y and build brand recognition ahead of their own distillate and product. If the distillery has selected and blended these intermediary whiskies, then I would say yes, this is something you should consider buying, especially if the value proposition makes sense.
However, if you can’t determine if the distillery has blended the product themselves, then caveat emptor and proceed with caution, especially if you intend to purchase future official bottlings. You just might be tasting and enjoying an unrelated master blender’s product and not the distillery team's prowess. Purchasing these intermediary products might just save you from buying an official bottling at a later date that you might not enjoy. In my case, these releases have put me onto future Holyrood products; it seems they can indeed release some quality whisky.
As an aside, I do find myself in a conundrum here: do I purchase backups of the Spicy and Fruity (my favourites of the four), since these likely won’t be seen again? I don’t usually buy backup bottles as there is a plethora of whisky out there that remains to be experienced and my shelves have been overflowing for a while now.
But such a good value, I would be silly to not have a few more tucked away, right?
[Right. At £26, grab ‘em. – WMc]
Tried these? Share your thoughts in the comments below. BB
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