Back in 2019, work started on building a new whisky distillery within Scotland’s capital city that promised to offer something new to the whisky scene. Whilst the scotch whisky industry is steeped in tradition, and you would think that being housed near Holyrood Park would lean into that history, the team have set out on a mission to actually experiment with the whisky making process with a simple mantra: Test. Learn Improve. Repeat.
As you would expect, their inaugural release “Arrival” flew off the shelves when launched in October 2023, and marked one of the first whiskies to be made in the city in over 100 years. Their second release was a peated single malt called “Embra”, with some bottles still available at £67.
The “Ambir” release was launched on their 5th birthday and marks a non-peated release that experiments with different malts and yeasts. The transparency that the team provide over the ingredients is staggering and can be viewed here: Holyrood – Ambir. All in all a total of 7 different malts (including specialty malts Caramalt, Chocolate Malt, Vienna Malt, and Crystal 240) and 10 different yeast extracts made the spirit that that has been housed across 4 different barrel types.
From the Scots for ‘amber’: The Scottish vernacular blends old and new language almost seamlessly. The name AMBIR was chosen to reflect this relationship between old and new, symbolising how Holyrood incorporates traditional practices with modern thinking.
The final whisky has been bottled at a punchy 49.8% ABV at its natural colouring and without chill-filtration. The single malt is still currently available at £67 per 70cl bottle.
Nose
Its a fairly sharp and astringent start. That punchy alcohol subsides and reveals sweet fruity notes with crisp apple and white wine/grape. There’s also a baking meets pudding sweetness like honeycomb, as well as a bready note, just like toasted sourdough (must be the yeast thing!).
Taste
Quite a sharp and spicy arrival. That near 50% hits hard to begin with. There’s a noticeable malt and cereal set of flavours at the heart of this with the orchard fruits appearing there again. A particularly sharp green apple. Some comfort food notes like brown sugar on an apple turnover.
Finish
Brown sugar and sharp ginger spice with the alcohol heat tingle the tonsils.
Verdict
This seems like a great experiment on paper and I was keen to try it, but this just didn’t do it for me. There are classic single malt notes in there, but the experimentation pulls them in different directions, with it being too strong on the nose, too sharp on the palate, and too spicy on the finish. It also had quite a thin texture and not as much depth as I would have expected from its build up, which you can understand because of the young age. It has probably been bottled too young, but I get why they’re releasing it, of course.
The sourdough/bready note on the nose seemed out of place – like something I’d more associate with a draft ale. Maybe I’m just getting set in my ways, but this was a bit too funky for my liking. But what do I know – the team at Master of Malt put it in their top ten malts of the year!
I will, of course, keep up with the distillery and their offerings, and see where their experiments take them – building on that malt character and fruit profile building blocks.
M
Dram disclosure: This sample was received as part of the Master of Malt Pour & Sip paid subscription service. All notes are intended as an honest, fair, and independent review of the whisky, and not as a promotion. Please drink responsibly. Please drink wisely.
whisky unplugged 
Leave a comment