Holyrood Distillery has announced its first peated whisky, Embra, to be released on Friday 15 March.

Embra is the second single malt whisky from the Edinburgh distillery, following its debut release Arrival last year. The distillery, which was founded in 2019, is focusing on small batch releases instead of a core range, to allow for experimentation and creativity.

Calum Rae, distillery manager, commented: “At Holyrood Distillery, we are relentlessly focused on experimentation and innovation to produce exceptional, interesting and flavourful spirits.”

Embra’s linocut label design is inspired by images of St Leonard — the patron saint of barrel makers. Holyrood Distillery sits in St Leonard’s Lane in Edinburgh.

Rae continued: “Edinburgh is the gateway to Scotland for many people and this is the idea at the heart of the first of this series. Embra is triple cask matured with a variety of yeasts and malts including chocolate malt, heavily peated malt and passion fruit wine yeast. This combination creates the perfect balance of bold smoky flavours and textures of peated whisky, while still being accessible to a new whisky drinker.”

Tasting notes for Embra supplied by the distillery highlights lemon zest, hickory smoke, dark chocolate mousse, and stewed pears.

Embra will be available from Friday 15 March via specialist whisky retailers and Holyrood’s website.