SCOTLAND is now home to the UK’s first vertical distillery, with the official opening this week of the spectacular Port of Leith, which looks set to become a pillar of the country’s whisky tourism industry.
A malt whisky distillery in Edinburgh was a long nurtured ‘pipe dream’ of wine merchant Ian Stirling and finance director Paddy Fletcher, the team behind the nearby Lind & Lime gin distillery, and now that the Port of Leith is a reality, they described walking into the completed building as a ‘surreal moment’.
“We never set out to build a vertical distillery – the shape and size of the building is a product of the tiny site we were able to secure,” said Stirling. “We wedged our distillery tower into Edinburgh’s historic harbour to make our building as accessible as possible to people who, like us, love whisky.
“We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to make the Port of Leith tour as special as we possibly can and look forward to welcoming fans across the globe to a whisky experience like no other.”
Co-founder Fletcher added: “Coming from Edinburgh, we were always confused as to why there were no single malt distilleries operating in the city.
“Being able to build something modern and different has been an enormous treat; hopefully it will encourage people to take a second look at Scotch whisky as there’s huge amounts of innovation and excitement going on within the industry.”
And different it certainly is. Constructed at a cost of £12million at the very end of the dock where the Royal Yacht Britannia has its permanent mooring, the distillery building makes maximum use of the maritime vistas surrounding it, with floor to ceiling windows on all sides offering visitors truly unique views.
Arranged across nine floors, the production end of the distillery begins with grain milling on the fourth floor – using barley grown on a farm within sight of Port of Leith – then descends to the mash on third, fermentation on second and distillation on first.
Going upwards to enjoy those elevated views, the visitor reception area and shop is on the sixth floor, with the expansive bar and mezzanine area on the eighth, itself topped off by the ninth floor ‘Harbour Room’. With a floor to ceiling back whisky bar and a menu of small plates designed to showcase Scotland’s world class ingredients, it is hard to imagine these striking spaces being anything other than a huge hit with tourists.
Bookings are now live for Port of Leith’s tour and tasting experience, with tours running 12noon til 8pm Wednesday to Friday, 11am til 7pm on Saturdays and 12pm til 5pm on Sundays.
Over the course of the 90-minute tour, visitors will be guided through the story of the distillery’s unlikely conception, fill their own miniature bottle of new make spirit and taste their way through the distillery’s production process in its purpose built Quality Control Tasting Laboratory on the fifth floor.
Port of Leith is expected to become the biggest tourist attraction to be built in Leith for decades, with a projected 25,000 visitors in its first year, increasing to 160,000 by 2025.
The distillery is creating up to 50 long term local jobs, with the capacity to produce one million bottles of whisky per year.
