THE company that hopes to develop Edinburgh’s first single malt whisky distillery for 90 years has won a multi-million pound vote of confidence in its plans from international investors.
Holyrood Distillery has raised £4.3m backing in a funding round supported by 60 private investors from a range of countries including the UK, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The Scottish Investment bank has agreed to provide £1.5m giving Holyrood £5.8m in total.
Directors reckon the fund raise will provide the company with the resources necessary to move into whisky production in a former train engine shed dating from 1835 by Edinburgh’s sprawling Holyrood Park.
The facility is expected to open to visitors in Spring 2019.
If all goes to plan Holyrood will be Edinburgh’s first single malt whisky distillery since Glen Sciennes closed in the 1920s.
Two Edinburgh businessmen are raising finance in support of their plans to develop a new-build distillery in Leith.
The success of Holyrood’s funding round reflects strong investor interest in the Scotch whisky business around the world.
Sales of whisky have boomed in recent years as rapid economic growth in Asia has resulted in the emergence of a new class of affluent consumers.
The Holyrood Distillery project was launched in the summer of 2016 by Rob and Kelly Carpenter, founders of the Canadian branch of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society alongside David Robertson, a whisky consultant and former master distiller of The Macallan.
Mr Carpenter, a lawyer by training, said: “With a lot of hard work and effort by the whole team … we have reached our fundraising target, allowing us to bring the distillery to life.”
He said it will be at least three years before the venture sells the first malt whisky, distilled and bottled at the distillery, noting: “In the meantime we’ll be making and selling a range of other delicious gins and liquers.”
Holyrood has said that by placing a working distillery in the heart of Edinburgh it is creating something very different from the typical distillery start-up. The location should help the distillery attract visitors, whose custom could generate useful cash flow.
The founders expect the distillery will create 35 jobs ultimately.
In July the firm recruited Jack Mayo from Glasgow Distillery as head distiller. Mr Mayo has a doctorate in astrophysics.
Bill Farrar joined as marketing director the same month after heading Edrington’s super premium business.
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