A tasting in a buried close
Underground whisky tasting in Edinburgh: what the setting actually changes
Edinburgh is built in layers, and the Old Town is full of streets that other streets were built on top of. One operator uses one of those spaces for a whisky tasting instead of a ghost story, and the result is the most atmospheric hour on this page — a stone room with no daylight, candles, small groups, and four or five drams. It is also the one that sells out first.
Quick answer
The short answer. The Lost Close underground Scotch tasting runs about ninety minutes in a buried close beneath the Old Town, costs $51 and holds 570 reviews at 4.7. It is the only underground whisky room on this page. Book it well ahead: small groups and one room means limited capacity.
The underground tasting at a glance
- What it is
- A buried closea street the city built over
- Length
- 1.5 hourslonger than the Castlehill tour
- Price
- $51the dearest tasting on this page
- Rating
- 4.7 · 570live from the listing
- Drams
- Four or fivea guided flight, not a single pour
- Group size
- Smallone room, and it caps
- Daylight
- Nonewhich is the entire point
- Temperature
- Coola jumper rather than a coat
- Above ground alternative
- $46the two-hour storytelling tasting
- Cheapest tasting
- $32Castlehill, all five regions
- Best for
- A second tastingonce you know the regions
- Book ahead
- Weeks, in Augustcapacity is the constraint
Why a close
The city that built over its own streets
Not a cellar. A street with a building put on top of it.
Edinburgh’s Old Town sits on a ridge that falls away steeply on both sides, and by the eighteenth century it had run out of room. Rather than level the hill it built over it — bridging ravines, roofing streets, and putting new buildings on top of old ones.
The result is a city with rooms underneath it that were never cellars. They were streets and houses with sky above them until somebody put a building on top. Most of the famous ones are used for ghost tours, which is a perfectly good use for a dark stone room.
Using one for whisky is a better idea than it sounds, and not for atmosphere alone. A tasting room with no windows, no traffic noise and no daylight removes almost every distraction, and nosing is a great deal easier when there is nothing else going on. The one genuine argument for paying nineteen dollars over the Castlehill ticket is that you concentrate better down there.
What it is like
Six things worth knowing
It is the most specific setting on this page and it suits some people much better than others.
- It is cool, not cold
A stone room below street level sits well under the outside temperature all year. A jumper is more use than a coat, which you will end up holding.
- The light is candles and lamps
Deliberately. It also means reading a tasting mat is harder than you expect, so listen rather than take notes.
- Groups are small because the room is small
This is the reason it costs more and the reason it is better. It is also why it sells out before anything else here.
- It is enclosed
Low ceiling, stone, no windows. If that is uncomfortable for you, the two-hour storytelling tasting above ground is the same kind of hour without the stone.
- Four or five drams, properly guided
This is a real tasting rather than a themed drink. You get the regional structure as well as the setting.
- There is no phone signal
You are under a building under a street. Agree where you are meeting anybody afterwards before you go down.
Every trip, current fare
The underground tasting against the alternatives
The three other guided tastings in the Old Town, all above ground.
| Tour | Length | Price | Drams poured | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Scotch Whisky ExperienceAll five regions, on Castlehill | 75 min | $32 | Four or five | $25.60 | 4.7 · 6,605 |
| Whisky Tasting with StorytellingThe best-rated tasting on this page | 2 h | $46 | Four or five | $23.00 | 4.9 · 2,570 |
| The Lost Close Underground TastingA tasting in a buried close | 1.5 h | $51 | Four or five | $34.00 | 4.7 · 570 |
| Scottish Dinner and Folk MusicDinner, folk music and a dram | 3 h | $113 | One, with dinner | $37.67 | 4.7 · 340 |
Whether it is worth the premium
Nineteen dollars over Castlehill
Honestly: not for a first whisky tasting. If you have never done one, the Castlehill attraction at $32 gives you the five-region framework, seventy-five minutes, and the biggest whisky collection in the world at the end. Nothing here beats it as an introduction.
The underground tasting is the right second tasting. Once you know what a Speyside is supposed to taste like, a small room with no distractions and a host who has time for you is where the subject actually opens up. It is the difference between being taught and being talked with.
And if you are in Edinburgh for one night and want one memorable thing rather than one educational thing — book it. The room does a great deal of work.
If enclosed spaces are not for you, the two-hour storytelling tasting is the highest-rated tour on this site and it is entirely above ground.
All the Old Town tastings→Common questions
Underground whisky tasting, answered
Is there an underground whisky tasting in Edinburgh?
Yes — one, in a buried close beneath the Old Town. It runs about ninety minutes, costs $51 and holds 570 reviews at 4.7. It is the only underground whisky room listed here.
What is a close?
A narrow lane running off the Royal Mile. Edinburgh has dozens of them, and several were built over rather than demolished as the city expanded, leaving streets with buildings on top of them.
Is it the same as a ghost tour?
Same kind of space, completely different hour. The ghost tours use the buried streets and the South Bridge vaults for storytelling; this uses one for a guided whisky tasting with four or five drams.
Is it cold down there?
Cool rather than cold, and the same all year. A jumper is more useful than a coat.
How many whiskies do you get?
Four or five, guided, with the regional structure you would get at any proper tasting. This is not a themed drink; it is a real flight in an unusual room.
Is it suitable if you dislike enclosed spaces?
Honestly, no. It is a low stone room with no windows and no daylight. The two-hour storytelling tasting at $46 is the same quality of hour above ground.
Why does it cost more than the Castlehill tour?
Small groups in one small room, and ninety minutes rather than seventy-five. You are paying for capacity and attention rather than for more whisky.
Should this be my first whisky tasting?
Probably not. Do Castlehill first for the five-region framework, then this. In that order it is one of the best evenings in the city; the other way round you will miss half of what the host is telling you.
Nosing in the dark
Why a windowless room is a better tasting room
No street, no kitchen, no daylight. Nothing for the glass to compete with.
There is a practical argument for the setting that has nothing to do with atmosphere, and it is the reason this tour is rated as highly as it is.
Most of what you experience as taste is smell, and smell is the most easily distracted of the senses. In a bar with a street outside, a kitchen behind you and other people’s perfume in the room, a glass has to compete. In a stone room below street level with no windows, no traffic and no ventilation, it does not.
The same is true of the light. Candles and lamps rather than daylight mean you cannot see the colour clearly, and colour is the single most misleading thing about whisky — darker does not mean older, and caramel colouring is legal and common. Taking the visual cue away makes people trust their nose, which is exactly what a host wants.
None of that is why the room was dug, obviously. But it is why the tasting works, and it is a better reason to pay the premium than the ambience is.
If you cannot do enclosed spaces
Five alternatives that are just as good
A low stone room with no windows is a reasonable thing to decline. These are the substitutes.
- The two-hour storytelling tasting — $46
Same length of hour, same quality of host, four or five drams, entirely above ground. Rated 4.9, the highest on this site.
- The Scotch Whisky Experience — $32
Castlehill, all five regions, and a purpose-built visitor space rather than a cellar.
- Holyrood Distillery — $34
A working still house with high ceilings and plenty of air. Whisky and gin, an hour, and a twenty-minute walk from the Royal Mile.
- Dinner with folk music — $113
Three hours, seated, warm, a dram and a band. The least intense whisky evening on this page.
- The bar at Port of Leith — $32
The opposite of underground: nine floors up with a view across the harbour.
Go deeper
More on whisky in Edinburgh
Whisky tasting in Edinburgh
What a guided tasting actually is, what gets poured, and which to book.
CastlehillThe Scotch Whisky Experience
Open since 1988, five regions in one sitting, and a vault of 3,384 bottles.
ExperiencesWhisky experiences compared
Everything sold here as a whisky experience, and what each one really is.
DistilleriesDistillery tours in Edinburgh
Three working distilleries in or near the city, and how they differ.
HolyroodHolyrood Distillery
The first new distillery in Edinburgh in a century, in a railway goods shed.
LeithPort of Leith Distillery
Nine storeys on the harbour: the first vertical whisky distillery in the world.
