Pretty cool tour. The silver tour is probably the way to go. As an American really the only thing the gold tour gets you is a tasting tray with 5 more whiskey to try, in the silver you only get one. read more

Single malt scotch fan, with quite a bit of, ahem, experience, but without deep knowledge. This was ideal for me for to really understand what I'm looking for and the possibilities/pitfalls. Comprehensive run through on how the stuff is made, how to discern and appreciate the different regions, how to get the best from your tasting; all in easily digested lumps. A bit Disneyland in the ride at the beginning, to which some snobs might object, but effective nevertheless and quite light hearted. The special effects in the lecture room, where apparently full bottles have a range of liquids added as the process is explained is pretty slick. Take the gold tour; the 4 tastings instead of 1 were very helpful in cementing what I had picked up in new knowledge. All the staff were very friendly and efficient, and Alex was an excellent guide, combining encyclopaedic knowledge with wit and patience. I suspect the poor ratings above are from people who either weren't very interested in scotch or, more likely perhaps, already knew all the details they wanted to know. It's not a tour for experts. read more

It's like Disneyland. For Scotch. Including a scotch ride. Did you hear me? SCOTCH....RIDE.

Starts off slow. The queues can take a long time and the ride at the start is quite dull in my opinion. However, once that's over with it's a lot of fun. It wonderfully combines technology and physical objects in a thrilling and engaging manner. The Scotch Whisky Experience is a treat for any whisky lover. The free glass with instructions on how to taste whisky is a nice touch. I plan to keep hold of mine (though I doubt it'll get much use for actual whisky). Big shout out to the tour guide I had on my visit, Peter. He did an amazing job. read more

Must experience the Whiskey Experience. Had fun from beginning to end and learned a lot.

Yes it's on the tourist strip, but it was actually really good! The first part of the tour is a weird barrel ride, a.k.a. Disney's haunted mansion. But once that's over, the tour really picks up. We had a very informative tour guide and watched a great panoramic film about the different regions of Scotland and the types of whiskey made in each. Then on to the tastings! Overall, the tour was creative and well presented. Worth the price. read more

Look, we all know we're headed into a major tourist trap when we book tickets for something that promises a ride on a whiskey barrel, right? So to some degree, I can't blame anyone but myself. I am hardly a whiskey drinker but fell in love with Bruadar during my last trip to Scotland and wanted to become a bit more sophisticated and perhaps expand my appreciation beyond the liqueurs. The problem with this experience is that it tries to combine theme park with legitimate knowledge of whiskey and how to "taste" regional differences. The theme park aspect for me (the ghost of a former brewmaster appearing and disappearing during a dumbed down intro to whiskey distillation, "magic" whiskey bottles filling, and so forth) failed miserably and was just annoying. I'm not sure who the audience is for that since for obvious reasons most on the tour are above 18 years old-- but the actual (very light) "Instructive" portion was very helpful. Our guide, Andrew, was very personable and knowledgeable, they give you a scratch-and-sniff scent card with exaggerated regional differences, and coach you through a tasting in a large private whiskey collection. It took around an hour for 15 pounds (silver tour), you receive a whiskey glass at the end. It was fun, but I think could be better without all the window dressing, or maybe offer two versions. I booked online in advance since it does get rather crowded. read more

i love this place.. check out the my avatar.. that's me sitting at the bar drinking scotch.. the barrel ride is a bit dorky.. and their store is quite expensive... however.. they have one hell of line-up of scotch.. and really knowledgeable staff.. if you even like alcohol.. you must visit here while you're in edinburgh read more

Until visiting the Scotch Whiskey Heritage Centre I didn't realize how different Scotch was from other hard alcohols and whisky's. The Heritage Centre was very enjoyable as you learn from a creepy looking ghost while sitting in a wooden whiskey barrel on tracks on how to make whiskey from start to finish. The best part is the taste testing and understanding the different regions of Scotland and how they yield different tastes. Definitely a must do while walking the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. read more

We enjoyed the tour and the appreciation session - and the rooms with all the whiskys. I could tell my mom loved it b/c she kept asking me to take photos...of everything! I am squarely a Lowlands guy. You? read more

The whole tour (barrel ride and tasting) borders on being cheesy, but informative. Kind of like going to Disneyland to learn about how it's a small world after all. But if you're ready to embrace the cheese and learn a little bit about how whisky is made and learn a little bit about Scotland geography (from a whisky glass), then this is a must-see. read more

I really liked the Scotch Whiskey Experience. Is it cheesy? Yes. You take a ride in a barrel as a holographic ghost walks you through the process of making Whiskey. Consider it a drunk Disney experience...and I like Disney so bring it on. It's the next half of the tour that shines. The introductory presentation of Scotch Whiskey with tasting is fantastic. Scratch and sniff whiskey cards? Love it. The collection they show you is impressive. We did the Gold experience so got to taste 4 great whiskies (one from each region represented on the tour). Their tasting room is also classy with a great view of Edinburgh. If you are new to Scotch drinking and/or you've got time to kill in Edinburgh and you don't mind a high cheese factor, I can't recommend this enough. read more

The tour is a great introduction to Scotch, giving a good orientation to the regions and flavours. Shop and cafe are quite good, and perhaps even a better highlight. Though when I was there, they were revamping the whiskey barrel ride feature, which I imagine makes it somewhat different than the conference room PowerPoint approach the tour takes now. read more

We enjoyed the tour but would have enjoyed a variety of sips of whisky as we didn't like the one included. Sitting in the barrel for the tour made it worth the visit as it allowed you to relax while learning about how whisky is made. read more

I took this tour as I couldn't get to a real distillery tour. Yes it's cheesy, yes it's a touch overpriced for what you get BUT the Whisky collection room is breathtaking and you get a souvenir tasting glass to take away. So, all on all, if you can't make the real thing, it's an ok substitute. read more

This tour is basically involces a dude taking you through several rooms where you will either sit and watch a film or some sort of presentation about how Whisky came into being and what is happening with Whisky these days. It was a bit bo-oring but I did come out of knowing a bit more about whisky in general. Plus you get a free taste of a whisky plus a tasting whisky glass to take home as your souvenir. There is a ride at the end of the tour as well. Don't get too excited about the ride folks. read more

The Scottish Whisky Tour is just about the biggest waste of money around, even if you know nothing about whisky. As other people have said, there is a guide who walks you through a whisky tasting (free with the tour price) and tells you about whisky. Then there is about the lamest ride around that takes you though the story of whiskey in Scotland. Honestly though, if you are one of those people that love touristy things (and I know there are people like you out there), then you would definitely enjoy this. But, in my opinion, if you want to learn something about whisky, skip the tour and head down to the fully stocked whisky bar on the bottom level. There is a map on the wall showing all the distilleries in Scotland and the staff are super friendly and will help you with any whisky related questions. read more

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! Synopsis: I'll start with the positive(s); the aroma room is an interesting and moderately useful concept to assign the nose and flavors of scotch to the essential elements. This merits one star. Negatives: Pricey, info is mostly derivative, the tour is horribly rushed with NO time to spend in the beautiful display room, tasting room is poorly managed and poorly stocked; staff was rude and not well informed. Detailed Description: If you MUST do this tour, do the basic tour (11 GBP) and skip the Gold tour (19GBP). If you don't know anything about scotch you might find it interesting. If you have marginal knowledge of scotch you will find it useless. The barrel ride is a joke and has no useful info. We found ourselves up at the royal mile with time to kill before a tour reservation so decided to check this out. Initially I was against it, but then read the reviews and decided to spring for it. My wife (not a scotch drinker) did the basic tour and I did the gold since the included 4 additional tastings seemed like a bargain; was I WRONG! Barrel tour was waste of time and insult to intelligence. Aroma room was moderately useful and well presented; hence one star. The display room of over 3300 bottles of scotch from a private collection was beautiful, but we were allowed less than 3 minutes in the room. I could have spent much more time but was forced out into the tasting room. Ah, the tasting room was massively disappointing. The four additional tastings of the gold tour tastes were pre-selected; which they do NOT inform you at the beginning of the tour, nor do they tell you that the tastings are less than 1 dram. WTF! OK, I get that I won't be able to try high end rare scotches as part of a tour, but I wanted to try something new as I had tried two of the four scotches, but was told no. Guests should be given a choice of scotches from a list of about a dozen for the tastings. They do have an extensive scotch menu in the tasting room, but many of them are not stocked. In the hour we were in the tasting room over a dozen patrons wished to try scotches that were on the menu only to be told they were unavailable. Just before we left I inquired about the lack of availability and was informed that the tour gets the dregs of what is available and the disgruntled staff member told me where in Edinburgh to go to sample a wide range of scotches. VERY DISSAPPOINTING EXPERIENCE!! read more

This was definitely the highlight of our visit in Edinburgh. We decided to do the Taste of Scotland Experience. It was fantastic! We had a great tour guide and I even enjoyed the scotch tasting even though my husband is the one who loves scotch. Our dinner was AMAZING! We both agreed it was the best meal we had on our entire 2 week trip. There were very accommodating to food preferences and everything we ate was so good! We learned a lot about scotch and I would recommend this to anyone! read more

A wonderful, interesting and informative tour, and a great way to be introduced to the pleasures of whisky.

The tour starts with a cheesy barrel ride through a whisky distillery process. Afterwards your tour guide guides through the differences in whiskies from the various regions of Scotland. This is followed by a sampling of a whisky from your chosen region. The tasting guide, Charolette, was informative and made a whisky novice like myself comfortable with the 5 steps to appreciate whisky. The tour is complete with a complementary Glencairn Glass. read more

Decided to go on this tour since I am a complete whisky noob. Tour started with a ride in a fake barrel through a virtual experience of what it takes to make whisky. Afterwards you get to sample one of seven whiskies from the various regions of Scotland. All in all the experience was good for a noob like me and seeing the collection of whiskies was pretty cool. You get to keep the tasting glass also, which was a nice bonus. read more

Best thing about this place is the staff- they all really know their stuff. obvioulsy, it's very touristy, so it's a fun thing to take visiting friends to. You get a free taster and glass at the end of the tour and a fun barrel ride too! read more

Includes a glacially paced car ride which educates you about the long history of Scotch in 'The Scotch Whiskey Experience' very confined space at the top of the royal mile. Interesting and amusing but a little expensive for the entrance fee. One 'dram' and a tasting glass is included in the fee. read more

I'm not a scotch fan, but the tour was interesting and our guide was hilarious. At the end of the tour, they have scotch samples. The key is to go there on 30 December while visiting the city for Hogmanay (NYE party) because they have more free samples than any other day of the year. I think it was 4 or 6 samples, but it didn't matter since none of the vendors kept track because everyone was happily toasted. I had no idea how many different types of scotch exist, so if you like the stuff, hit it up. Great place. read more

Look past the extremely tacky conveyor belt style whiskey history ride and you'll see a fantastic intro to whiskey tasting. The staff are great and their knowledge of Scotland's whiskey history is great. You'll get to understand/taste the diverse range of tastes whiskey can offer, see the largest collection of whiskey (great for some classy vacation photos) and keep a glass. Worth it. read more

Great whisky at great prices, bartenders are helpful and friendly too. I visited in the afternoon, so it was nice and quiet. I had a great time! read more

Great experience. Did the platinum tour and ended with dinner in the Amber room. 5 tastings and a 3 course meal with traditional Scottish food. Chicken with haggis, salmon soup, a potato and a venison medallion. Finished off with a chranachan dessert and whisky pairing. Great experience. read more

The only problem with this place is that it is about whisky - which I cannot drink. Other than that It is quite an interesting tour, both for tourists and also for locals. Worth a visit. read more

the barrel ride was a bit corny, but the information and demonstrations are very informative! you get a free whiskey glass and test out 1 (or 4 for the more expensive tour) whiskey! they do carry rare(r) whiskeys too like Oban!!! (yay!) if you have small kids (under 12 ish) dont waste your money on this tour for them (unless you want to teach them about whiskey making), they will think its boring, and they will just annoy all of the adults! read more

WOW selection of whiskies, WOW collection of 3000k whiskies! good tour, explaining how whisky is made and then giving you the opportunity to taste your favourite type read more

I went in totally expecting a tourist trap but it wasn't bad at all! Definitely recommend the gold tour. The ride was good (not great) and you did learn about casks, etc. The presentation was also good, they explained the minimum but helped it stick. I was expecting them to only sample the cheapest whiskies but they actually provided a good variety and decent amount (15mlx5- not too big, not too little). If you want to skip the ride and stuff I'd recommend the flights at the Whiski Rooms down the road. If you really want to try mind-blowing whiksies head over to the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society (open to the public in August) and have the bartender pick out a few. read more

Expected this to be super cheesy, but it wasn't. Once past the ride in a barrel, the experience really gets kicked up a couple notches. I'd go back just to see the whiskey collection alone. They give you a nice size pour for the each glass, so unless you plan to hang around for a bit, I'd probably just go for one glass. Otherwise, go gold and get 4 and hang around. read more

The platinum tour was an excellent experience. I don't give many 5 star reviews, but this more than deserves it. The guide was terrific; knowledgeable, friendly, great story teller. We learned how Scotch was made and saw the largest scotch collection in the world. Surprisingly to me one of my favorite parts of the experience was the film showing the 5 regions. It not only educates you about the scotch from the region, but highlights other things to see in the region. It will help me decide where I want to visit next in Scotland. The scotch was great, other than the last one. There is one region known for smoky flavor in their scotch. I didn't like it a bit, but they needed to include it to properly represent all regions. Just save a little of the 4th scotch to get the taste out of your mouth. You get to take home one of the tasting glasses. Really a great experience for the money. read more

The Morning Master Class was awesome. Sam spent a lot of time with each of us to help us understand whisky and the different smells and tastes. He was very knowledgeable, passionate and personable. He really made the experience for both my husband and me. The class is worth the money! We stayed after for a couple drinks in the bar area. We were fortunate to have Lucy to help us decide what to have. She was great. She was also very personable. We had just gotten to Scotland the evening before. It was a great way to start our vacation! My recommendation, don't bother with the Barrel Ride if you know anything about whisky. It's a waste of time. Do the tour or the class. You won't be sorry read more

Nice if you don't know much about whisky. But i rather save my money and go to the whisky bar where you can taste a lot of them and see on the map where they are made.. read more

A great tourist attraction is the Scottish Whiskey Experience. There is loads to learn about the history of whiskey and some to try. There are loads of advisors to tell which whiskey might suit you best plus there is a great restaurant selling traditional scottish food. read more

On the Royal Mile brings 300 years of Scotch Whisky history to life. It allows you to experience the sights, sounds and smells of whisky, and the opportunity to discover how scotch whisky is made. Standard is amazing and always a bonus if you like whisky! Quite a fun and interesting experience. read more

Interesting, informative tour,with theopportunity to taste samples,and buy gifts. A good expereince,both for the tourist and the local alike. if you are a whisky lover this is the place for you. read more

silly ride more suited for kids then for whisky interested adults. way too expensive. felt like a rip-off to me. spend the entrance fee on bottles from the store ... read more