May Whiskies of the Month: Amber’s 25th Anniversary
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of our Amber Restaurant, we are highlighting the growth and change in the whisky industry since this award-winning restaurant opened its doors. The Amber Restaurant, proudly housed at The Scotch Whisky Experience, features modern takes on traditional Scottish fayre, sourced locally. In the past 25 years, there have been numerous new distilleries, independent bottlers, and enthusiasts who have entered the scene, along with innovative methods and experiments. To get a taste of the industry’s immense progression and to celebrate the incredible success of Amber over its 25 years, why not join us this May! Enjoy these drams with a meal or savour delicious Scottish tapas with the Manager’s Choice whisky flight at our Amber Restaurant.
Lowlands - Holyrood Ambir
In 2019, single malt whisky production started back up in Edinburgh, with the opening of Holyrood Distillery, following nearly 100 years of single malt silence. Beyond simply producing single malts, Holyrood is a truly experimental distillery, intent on producing spirit using a variety of yeast and barley strains. Holyrood also shows high levels of transparency, with an incredible amount of information available to the consumer. While most casual whisky drinkers prefer to focus on their enjoyment of the spirit, some ‘whisky nerds’ appreciate the ability to learn about the malt, yeast, and cask makeup of the whisky presented to the tenth of a percent!
This whisky is a perfect example of their experimentation, with seven different types of barley and ten different strains of yeast used to produce the spirit. The cask maturation, while often the focal point of most distilleries, comes secondary to the malt and yeast makeup. The majority of the whisky is matured in bourbon casks, with a smaller proportion in oloroso sherry casks, which elevates its sweetness. This whisky is a perfect dram for anyone craving a sweet Scottish treat. The spirit boasts flavours of Scottish tablet, creamy fudge, and biscuity shortbread.
It doesn’t hurt that the name of the whisky itself, Ambir, is the Scots word for amber, highlighting the stunning colour of the spirit and beautifully honouring both tradition and innovation.
Highlands - Nc’nean Organic
Nc’nean Distillery, which opened in 2017, helps to perfectly highlight a couple of new trends in the industry.
Firstly, many newer distilleries in Scotland are prioritising the sustainability and environmental consciousness of many facets of their business. This distillery is proud to advertise its status as B-Corp certified with its exclusive use of organic Scottish barley, renewable energy and their 100% recycled glass bottles.
Secondly, this distillery was founded by Annabel Thomas, marking the rise of women in the whisky industry. Some examples of women who have owned distilleries include Bessie Williamson of Laphroaig and Helen Cumming of Cardhu. The name of the distillery is a shortened version of Neachneohain, an ancient Gaelic goddess who was the Queen of Spirits.
This whisky is a bright, rounded, fruity, and complex dram. There are notes of stone fruits including peach, apricot, and a gentle spice, bottled at 46% abv.
Speyside - Meikle Tòir Chinquapin
Meikle Tòir comes from GlenAllachie Distillery which wanted to produce a bold, unique whisky quite different from their house style and many Speyside whiskies in general. GlenAllachie Distillery has been making whisky since 1967 but only began producing peated spirit in 2018. For six weeks out of the year, they produced sweet, smoky spirit with barley kilned with mainland Scottish peat.
Another quality that makes this whisky stand out as innovative, is the cask maturation which is partly in Chinquapin virgin oak casks. Chinquapin oak (quercus muehlenbergii) is native to North America and gives the spirit a sweet and spicy flavour. Sourcing this oak from the North Ozark region, GlenAllachie Distillery is one of the first in Scotland to experiment with these casks, as more distilleries look to expand beyond the typical American or European oak varieties.
When Amber Restaurant first opened, you could not order a peated GlenAllachie whisky or a whisky matured in Chinquapin oak, but after 25 years, now you can get all that in one dram!
This spirit boasts a unique, spicy, oaky, and sweet smoky character due to the use of mainland peat and the unique Chinquapin oak casks. The spirit is bottled at 48% abv and gives notes of crème brûlée, campfire smoke, ginger, and cocoa.
Islay - Bruichladdich Classic Laddie
The Bruichladdich Classic Laddie is a stunning, unpeated Islay dram, originally established in 1881. Like many distilleries, it had a series of closures and temporary shutdowns. The distillery was most recently reopened under new ownership in 2001 and has prioritised innovation, provenance, and transparency. Therefore, the distillery is currently celebrating its 25th year of Islay whisky making. They use 100% Islay barley and are proud of the differences in each batch of spirit based on the provenance of the barley.
Furthermore, Bruichladdich is looking to stand out to consumers by bottling their spirit in bold, bright blue bottles, appealing to those looking for something new and different, while also appeasing whisky traditionalists with their high-quality spirit.
This whisky is bottled at 50% abv after 10 years. The spirit gives notes of green apple, brown sugar, stone fruits, and bright citrus.
Blend - Woven Homemade
This blended whisky, first released in 2021, perfectly honours both the rich tradition of blending with the innovative spirit of newer brands. The history of blended whisky in Scotland is a vibrant one, with the first blend being sold commercially from Edinburgh in 1860. Based in a Leith studio, Woven acknowledges the area’s rich whisky blending heritage, shaped by Leith’s historic importance as a key port for Edinburgh. Its name, ‘Homemade’, highlights the care that went into selecting the elements of the blend, as well as its small-scale batch production.
Newer blends being dreamed of and released, often flip the script on the typical ratio of malt spirit and grain spirit. Usually, blends will feature 70-80% of the lighter in style grain whisky, using a carefully selected array of single malt whiskies to occupy the rest of the makeup. However, Woven chooses to prioritise the malt content to produce a vibrant and complex spirit. This, along with its strength of 46.4% abv, makes it a smooth, ‘sippable’ dram with enough complexity to convert even the strictest single malt purist.
This whisky, matured in bourbon and sherry casks, is smooth, sweet, and spicy, with a vibrant character.
Luxury: Woodrow’s Highland Blended Malt 30 Year Old
This company began as a cask trading broker but shifted recently into bottling special casks of whisky. This bottler is based in Leith, a historical hub for blending, bottling, and shipping whisky.
The spirit making up this blended malt may have been distilled 5 years before the opening of Amber Restaurant & Whisky Bar, but it was not predetermined for this bottle. Independent bottlers can buy casks at many different points in their maturation journey, and this company only expanded from their cask trading business into independently bottling spirit in 2022.
This blended malt is a mixture of single malts from highland distilleries, which have been married together in a sherry cask and then finished in a bourbon cask. The whisky is bottled at 53.5% abv with only 252 bottles released. This whisky boasts notes of dried fruit and citrus with richer chocolate notes. Due to its mixture of single malts and cask types, it is complex, balanced, and nuanced.
From bold new distilleries to small batch blends, this month’s selection celebrates the remarkable journey both Scotch whisky and Amber Restaurant have taken over the past 25 years. We invite you to raise a glass to 25 years of Amber Restaurant – and to the exciting future of Scotch whisky!