The Scotch Whisky Experience

The Morning Masterclass with our host Lucy was a brilliant way to sample a nice range of scotch from grain to cask strength varieties. Lucy was a great host and conducted the tasting and tour of The Collection in a very relaxed manner. She’s really an excellent host/guide and her appreciation for not only scotch as a drink but the larger part it plays in their heritage is very apparent.
As someone that’s taken the Tour of SWE twice before, I recommend the Morning Masterclass for those who want to cut to the chase of tasting or simply know enough about scotch production and history to value skipping the tour.
The tasting area has great views of the cityscape too. Toss in four drams of good variety, good conversion, tea, and shortbread and all in all it’s a great way to justify having drinks before noon.

Very informative visit explaining the whole process of whisky making from grain to bottling the final product.

Explaining the different regions and the varying tastes of whisky from these regions.

We booked the silver tour which you sampled one dram at the end of your tour and was an hour in duration which is plenty of time for an introduction to the world of whisky.

The aficionados may want to book the premium tours

The tour consist of a short audio/visual ride in a barrel followed by a video explanation of the whisky producing regions and special traits of each. The tour concludes with a tour guide, Chris does a fantastic job of answering questions while showing the private collection of over 3500 whiskies, Ho, and by the way the all important tasting. It's a good tour (we were on the Silver option) which last approx 50mins and is worth the cost.

What a great attraction ! It is about £17 per person for the silver tour and lasts about 75 minutes. Great introduction into whisky (I personally dislike the fast). The staff are very nice and knowledgeable. The sensory tour is about 8 minutes and very fun and interesting for all ages. Our tour guide was Fliss and she was really nice and made it very funny and interesting. She defiantly knew her stuff and came across as passionate. The tasting experience is very interesting and they do off a non alcoholic alternative and they do offer headsets for other languages. The whiskey collection is very impressive. Well worth visiting as very interactive!

Interesting and informative tour and our guide John was very knowledgable. However, our first impressions were not good at all. The young lady at the desk who we bought tickets from was rude and disinterested. She was rude to us and while waiting for the tour to start, we overheard her telling people enquiring about tickets and asking her for information to ‘look online’. Maybe some training in customer service and basic politeness wouldn’t go amiss. Everyone else was helpful, knowledgeable and friendly so it was a shame our first impression was not a good one.

Booked this tour and just so happened to be on a day when the weather in Edinburgh was awful and I think this is why visit was average going on poor. I don't think the staff can cope with the number of people who book on the tour on the day to get out of the rain.

We were on a timed your at 16.35 yet had to queue to join the experience. The barrel ride is a bit cheesy but the scenic cinema experience and the brief talk made up for it. When we moved into the rooms to look at the collection it was hard to move around and get a good look. Also the guide rarely spoke and I would've thought there would be plenty to say when you have 3500 bottles of whisky in a collection worth millions.

We had bought the gold tour which meant we moved into a tasting room to try 4 more whiskies. We were left alone without any explanation, I had expected another talk or the opportunity to ask questions in relation to earlier parts of the tour. The guide and the barman were trying to clear the tables to allow more gold tour customers in. We decided not to bother asking for mixers or if we could order some food because it all felt so rushed.

Think the tour needed to be a bit more intimate, with smaller groups to fully get the chance to appreciate what can be viewed. Also think they run far too frequently so that too much pressure is on the staff to move people through quicker. On days where the weather is awful the pressure is impossible and paying customers do not get value for money.

Last visited last century! Certainly changed a fair bit from last visit.
Like any tourist attraction it moves to change with the times. Barrel ride is a clever way to take you through the way whisky is made in the language of choice. The visuals of how grain whisky is made is very clever, here you sit and look to a focal bottle. Now you only get to sample one whisky region whereas previous you got to stand round a table and sample each region and compare, which is a pity.
There was a young lady who’s name I did not catch/recall but she spent a good half hour in conversation with us and she was not only delightful to talk to but knowledgeable on whisky and whiskeys.
The staff in general are superb and helpful
The worlds largest unopened whisky collection is awesome if not phenomenal. If I have one negative of the tour / experience it’s that you are not given a lot of time in this room. There are some really old whiskies and great to see it here in Scotland where is should be and on display for the public - thank you Diageo

What an absolutely fantastic experience. I'm a big fan of whisky, as well as my friend who I went with, but we came away having learned a lot more about whisky than we did. We did the 'Taste of Scotland' tour which is the Platinum tour experience with a three course meal in the beautiful Amber restaurant afterward.

The staff were all very friendly and nice. Lucy N, our tour guide, was incredibly knowledgeable and made the whole experience so much better. She gave everyone her undivided attention and really made us feel special. She is very knowledgeable about whisky - name a whisky and she'd be able to speak to you about it which is a real feat.

The tour itself was fantastic. You first sit in a whisky barrel and are taken through the process of making whisky. The aroma room was also a fantastic show. Going through the largest collection of whisky in the world was also really something. Then the whisky tasting itself was fantastic and Lucy's knowledge and passion really came through here. We got to try 4 malts and a blend on this tour.

The three course meal in the restaurant was also phenomenal - a trio of Scottish starters, a trio of Scottish mains, and dessert paired with a Balvenie 12 year old - a perfect end. Billy, the manager of the restaurant, was also great to chat too and very knowledgeable too.

All in all, a fantastic experience and really well done, with the knowledge and passion of staff shining through.

Thank you everyone, but especially Lucy and Billy.

Great afternoon spent at the Scottish Whisky Experience. Peter, our guide, was really knowledgeable and able to recommend some very delicious whiskies for us to taste after the tour with our personal tastes in mind. We had a great time. Would definitely recommend it.

This was a very fun afternoon. The tour starts out with a ride like an amusement park, then you join the others on the tour for a brief film about 5 areas of whisky production in Scotland. Thereafter you walk through the building and the guide explains the process and the differences in the whiskies. Then the best part - the tasting. We did the Gold Tour which gave us 5 tastes. Definitely the way to go! My daughter and I learned a lot, and it was interesting how our palates differed.
Afterwards we decided to have dinner in their restaurant and we were not disappointed. The whole experience is very much worth doing!