This article first appeared in the Drinks International Rum Supplement which can be read in full here
Holyrood Distillery made news back in 2019 for becoming the first malt whisky distillery to open in Edinburgh’s city centre for almost a century. Since then the brand has launched several celebrated single malts, a gin and, perhaps surprisingly, has become one of rum’s most celebrated new blenders.
The decision to enter the rum space began at the brand’s maturation warehouses on the outskirts of the Scottish capital.
“Royal Elizabeth Yard, in Kirkliston, West Lothian, was established in 1946 as a Royal Naval Victualling Depot,” explains Calum Rae, distillery manager at Holyrood.
“Unit 6, where we currently store our casks, was originally the rum store responsible for issuing the fleet’s daily rum ration. The final official rum issue to the Royal Navy took place on Friday 31 July 1970 and after this Unit 6 remained vacant until 2019, when we took over the space. Given the building’s rich history with rum, it felt only natural for us to launch a rum bottling brand alongside our whisky and gin offerings.”
Space for experimentation
Elizabeth Yard has become a space where Holyrood can experiment with maturation and finishes. Given the brand’s whisky roots, cask selection tends to follow Scotch trends – ex-sherry casks are common, as is American oak.
“Our mantra at Holyrood is ‘test, learn, improve, repeat’,” says Rae. “This is the motivation behind everything we do. As a team, we are passionate about continuing to learn new techniques and push the boundaries of what is possible in whisky.
“When we launched Elizabeth Yard, it was an opportunity to show our stripes regarding maturation before we had mature whisky. Rum provides us with a creative and experimental outlet – there are fewer rules, and therefore fewer limitations to what we can do with flavour. With that being said, we wanted there to be a distinct relationship between Elizabeth Yard rums and our approach to whisky making, utilising the same principles we apply to all of our whisky.
“Rum as a category is so often thought of as the Wild West of spirits. That’s why we use casks, and only casks, to influence the flavour of our rums. There are no hidden additives, all of our Elizabeth Yard rums contain no added sugar, no added flavours, and no added colour.
“The other benefits are of course, that we have access to wonderful rum-seasoned casks for our whisky, and that we’ve had a head start in understanding the maturation conditions in our warehouse, to inform our subsequent whisky maturations.”
When it comes to the liquids, the brand exclusively partners with rum producers that use sugarcane grown locally to them and typically from less-well-established regions – the brand’s signature blend that runs across its core range features a single estate molasses rum from the Philippines, high ester pot still rum from Ghana and a cane juice rum from Vietnam.
“When it comes to selecting which rums to bottle and release, we approach Elizabeth Yard in the same way that we approach all our spirits – flavour comes first,” says Rae. “We had two objectives when we began, first to source incredible-tasting rum that would lend itself to maturation in casks, and second, to shine a light on the quality, diversity and breadth of rum produced all over the world.”
And as it transpires, the team at Holyrood have something of a knack for blending rum. Since launching, the brand has collected nine medals at the International Spirits Challenge, including a gold and a double gold for its South Pacific 2004 bottling.
“Recognition from the ISC is hugely important to us – winning, or even just being nominated, means a great deal for a smaller brand like us. It’s judged blindly, which means that it helps to represent the liquid in an honest fashion and helps give our liquid credibility as well as providing reassurance to customers.”
