Holyrood Distillery

Holyrood is a modern distillery in the heart of historic Edinburgh. Inspired by their surroundings, and never afraid to experiment, they are dedicated to shaping the spirit of tomorrow.

Holyrood Distillery was a passion project for Canadian couple Robin and Kelly Carpenter, founders of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society Canada.

They have a small 250l pot column gin still which was used for tour experiences and so they experimented with gin recipes, before changing their approach and began subtracting botanicals from the recipes until they got to just juniper. Their goal then became stretching this key botanical to replicate the simplicity of whisky and the dark spirit space.

The team added salt and beeswax to create a sense of depth and open up the juniper flavour. In the same way you’d add salt and pepper to bring out the flavour in a steak, they found salt and beeswax made the gin pop and gave it length in the palate.

The result was Height of Arrows Gin which launched in September 2021 to a positive reception.

Alice Lascelles writing in the Financial Times wrote: ‘Height of Arrows is an unconventional, but inspired, gin from Edinburgh that rounds out juniper’s pepper-and-lavender notes with subtle hints of beeswax and salt.’

Height of Arrows went on to win Gin of the Year 2022 from the Whisky Exchange and, less than a year since launch, now makes up around 50% of Holyrood Distillery’s sales.  Gin is certainly here to stay for the Scottish brand, laying the foundation for future gin products inspired by whisky a whisky makers mindset.

They plan to keep pushing the boundaries of juniper and have experimented with roasted juniper, which has an immense mouth feel and incredible depth of flavour.