Glenkinchie Distillery

Overview

Glenkinchie is the nearest malt whisky distillery to Edinburgh, and the producer of the so called “Edinburgh Malt”.

Glenkinchie distillery is located to the south of the pretty village of Pencaitland, which is south-east of Edinburgh. Because of its closeness to Scotland’s capital city, the distillery is a popular stopping point for tourists, and it is well signposted on the A6093.

Glenkinchie distillery also houses a  museum about Malt Whisky production, and you can visit this while waiting for your tour to begin. In the museum, there is an example of an illicit still, a large-scale model of a distillery, a variety of displays, and a video introducing the other malts in the Classic Malt collection.

The distillery tour spends about 20 minutes in the museum before taking you on a 40-minute tour of the production areas. Most of the production areas are accessible by wheelchair, but the Mash Tuns can only be reached by a staircase.

A noteworthy feature of Glenkinchie is the fact that it has the largest stills in Scotland, with a volume of 30,963 litres.

After your tour you get a glass of the Glenkinchie 12yr old and you may try a sample from one of a variety of other whiskies to compare the difference in flavours. The tasting room is quite modern and stylish in its design and looks like a fashionable bar. Not the sort of traditional look and feel that you might expect in a Scottish distillery.

You may enjoy shopping for a whisky here, as the shop is stocked with some very rare and interesting varieties that you seldom find in places other than specialist whisky shops. If you take the tour you get a £5 discount on any whisky bottle purchases.

The distillery tours can be booked on the Glenkinchie Distillery website.