Holyrood Distillery’s Bottle No. 1 sells for £8,000

Easton Capital backed Holyrood Distillery has launched its inaugural single malt whisky, Arrival, with the first bottle selling at auction for £8,000.

The Edinburgh distillery’s new single malt – one of the first produced in the Scottish capital in 100 years – was launched late last year with a limited run of 8,188 bottles.

Bottle number one of the inaugural release was placed with premier auction house, Sotheby’s, and achieved £8,000 under the hammer.

Holyrood opened in 2019 in a former railway building in Edinburgh’s Southside area, near the famous natural landmark Arthur’s Seat. Founded on an ethos of experimentation and pushing the boundaries of traditional spirit making, it has so far released the Height of Arrows gin range, the grain-based Charmed Circle ‘strong waters’, and a number of new-make spirits showcasing different yeast and malt varieties.

The spirit for Arrival was matured in oloroso butts, Pedro Ximénez hogsheads, bourbon barrels, and rum barriques. It was produced with a traditional distilling malt and distillers’ yeast, which Holyrood says will form the “flavour foundation” of its single malt recipes going forward, layered with heritage and speciality malts and yeasts not traditionally used in Scotch whisky production.