The Scotch Whisky Experience

Working Demonstration Model of Tormore Distillery

There's a slight irony in the fact that Scotland's capital, Edinburgh, has no surviving examples of the nation's most famous industry, the traditional distillation of scotch whisky. Over the past couple of centuries, as many as nine distilleries, both malt and grain, have operated within the city. But today Edinburgh is home only to the North British grain distillery, whose fairly industrial process is not really representative of the craft, romance and heritage of the traditional malt whisky distillery.

Reception Tasting Area Amber Restaurant The Well Stocked Bar ...And Equally Well Stocked Shop The Scotch Whisky Barrel Ride Still in Presentation Room Roll Out the Barrel The Haunt of the Blender's Ghost

Visitors to the capital who would like to experience something of this heritage have two choices. One is to find their way to Glenkinchie Distillery in East Lothian, some 13 miles south west of the centre of Edinburgh and today the closest traditional malt distillery to the capital.

The second is rather more on the doorstep. Just a few yards down Castlehill (the top section of the Royal Mile) from the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle is The Scotch Whisky Experience, a 5 Star Visitor Attraction located within an old school building. To avoid confusion it is worth noting that this used to be called The Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre.

At first sight it might seem a slightly odd idea: to learn about an important part of Scotland's heritage by visiting somewhere with no historical links whatsoever with that heritage. You should have no such doubts. The Scotch Whisky Experience is a superb place to visit.

On one level it is the perfect introduction to scotch whisky for those who know nothing beyond the fact that it is important to Scotland, and perhaps that it tastes nice. But the Experience is not just for beginners: there is something here for everyone. Even those who have visited many distilleries across Scotland will find they emerge from The Scotch Whisky Experience having thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and more than a little wiser than they were when they went in.

So what does a visit to The Scotch Whisky Experience entail? Well most visitors will want to take part in the full interactive tour, in a group under the guidance of an enthusiastic and knowledgable guide. Opening hours and admission prices are set out on the right.

Barrel Ride: Traditional Farmstead

Robert Burns and Drinking Companion

Illicit Still

Sir Walter Scott & King George IV

Prohibition in the USA

But it is worth knowing that parts of the Experience are open, without an admission fee, to anyone who wants to drop in. These include the superb shop on the ground floor of the Experience; the lower ground floor Amber Restaurant, which offers daytime, dinner and coffee shop menus; and the bar, also on the lower ground floor, which offers over 300 different scotch whiskies, scotch whisky liqueurs and scotch whisky cocktails.

The Scotch Whisky Experience also has its own Training School, running courses for those involved in the industry, or for anyone else who wants to expand and deepen their knowledge of scotch whisky. Informal and tutored tasting sessions can also be arranged.

But the heart of the The Scotch Whisky Experience is its interactive tour. This starts in the reception area before moving on to learn how to "nose" and taste the real thing in the tasting area next door: drivers and visitors under 18 are offered soft drinks instead.

Visitors are then taken through a series of different aspects of scotch whisky, covering things like the source of the unique flavour, the ingredients and the importance of the level of peat involved in malting the barley, the difference between malt and grain whisky, and much more. The different steps in the production process are demonstrated using a perfect scale model of the Tormore Distillery, a real distillery in Speyside.

Nearby you find an even more impressive visual aid, a real copper still. Next comes an insight into the way Scotland's geography has given rise to a number of distinct styles of scotch whisky; and how a Lowland malt is likely to differ from one from the Highlands, or one from Speyside, or one from the Islands.

En route you are taken through a series of scenes associated with scotch whisky, including a bonded warehouse containing a mouse's worst nightmare: a distillery cat lit to project a three-foot shadow across the barrels!

Visitors then move on to a very traditionally-styled bar, which turns out to be the haunt of the Blender's Ghost. Here you hear about the secrets of nosing a whisky, you learn about the meaning of the term "angels share" which occurs during the long maturation process (and why maturation matters). Here, too, you find out about the art of the whisky blender, and why some whiskies blend together well and others simply don't.

The highlight of a visit is The Scotch Whisky Barrel Ride. Visitors board cars with bodywork formed from barrels and are taken through a series of sights, sounds and smells that between them evoke over 300 years of the history of scotch whisky. Here you can meet Robert Burns and a drinking companion as he laments the closure of a distillery; find out how Sir Walter Scott and King George IV helped turn scotch whisky into an industry with a global reach; or find out why developments in the United States, from Prohibition to the stationing of US troops in the UK during WWII made a difference to scotch whisky.

A wide range of fascinating tableaux depict many of those involved in the history of scotch whisky, from the operators of illicit stills through smugglers, excise men, merchants, town guards and many more.

It may not be - and may never have been - a distillery, but a visit to The Scotch Whisky Experience is both an ideal primer for those who have never visited a distillery, and a great way of filling in the background for those who have.

The Scotch Whisky Experience is Housed in an Old School Building