The launch party at Port of Leith Distillery

PR invite // All thoughts and opinions are, of course, my own. 

Port of Leith Distillery is finally opening its doors on October 11th and I had the opportunity to go along to the launch party and see the building in all its glory. So exciting to what will be happening here since it is only a tram ride across town from me and I’ve been hearing so much about this project throughout its planning and building stages.

Port of Leith Distillery

Port of Leith is a vertical distillery, meaning that the barley is transported up a couple of floors and gravity then assists in guiding its way down through malting, mashing, fermentation and distillation. I’ve only ever seen a distillery like this at Mackmyra in Sweden. On the upper floors the building also features a shop, where you can find the other products under the Muckle Brig umbrella, like their lovely champagne and delicious white port that are my two favourites from the range. And I of course have to mention their Lind & Lime gin, which is one of my favourite ever gins.

The launch party!

The evening started with a glass of champagne in the shop where we got to admire the gorgeous views over the water. A distillery tour waited for us next where we walked down the same way the barley travels, all the way down to the still room. The stills also have a gorgeous view so I was glad that they were not running yet, so we were allowed to take photos. I can imagine the production areas will be quite warm when it is all running as the entire space is more like one big room of different levels, rather than separate floors. Following the tour we got to sample the two new makes (made in Glasgow as a preview of what’s to come) made with Belgian yeast and Norwegian yeast where the latter was my favourite. To end the night we headed up to the bar area to enjoy some refreshing cocktails and I really hope they will have the Sherry Cobbler on the menu once it all opens as I really enjoyed that one. Can’t wait to see what the bar menu will look like once they are up and running in October, and if you are a whisky enthusiast then they have a lovely selection of whiskies here so well worth checking out.

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