Month: November 2023

#35 A(nother) distillery next door


Exploring Port of Leith

 

TL; DR: This last October we were supposed to run the Wee dram (10k) at the Dramathon, but because of adverse weather conditions we had to cancel our weekend. Weekend in Speyside gone, we made it up with local attractions, in particular our first visit to the brand-new Port of Leith distillery!

Finally, it came that period of the year again, towards August, where we start training a bit more seriously to prepare for the Dramathon. This year, however, we had decided to run the 10k only, for two reasons: too much stuff going on at work so not a lot of time to train for a half marathon, and because last year we ended up very tired. Another difference, Gianluigi’s brother would come from Italy to join us for the 10k. Because of that, the following day we had planned to visit one of our favourite distilleries in the area: Glenallachie!

Well, things didn’t exactly go as planned, as a storm of (not only) bad luck hit us. First, a couple of weeks before the run, we found out that the original accommodation we booked for Gianluigi’s brother and his girlfriend had ceased activity, but neither they (in spite a few emails from us to inform of late check-in) nor Booking.com told us. Then, during the week before the race we both got Covid. Being the third time, it wasn’t that bad…so we just rested for a few days. But then, the straw that breaks the camel’s back: storm Babet. The area of the race was deemed safe at first, until the late evening before the event: the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency communicated a red alert for flood of the river Spey in Aberlour. This was not only where the 10k was starting and all the other races were supposed to run through, but also where the alternative accommodation was located (less than 150 metres from the river…). So, at that stage we could only give up. Bummer!

  • Not bad as a plan B.

In the morning, we cheered ourselves up with a big breakfast at the Up the Junction cafe, in Leith (one of our favourites). As a back-up plan, we took advantage of the emptied day to go visit our brand-new local distillery: Port of Leith! It is actually not the first distillery in the neighbourhood, as the Bonnington distillery (owned by Crabbie’s) is not far from our flat. It is very close to the Water of Leith walkway, our usual running ground, so it’s not uncommon for us to smell some mashing or fermenting while running. The distillery is closed to visitors, so smelling is indeed the closest thing we can do.

  • Warm-up tasting before the tour.

Around midday, we walked towards Ocean Terminal and then to the Port of Leith distillery, where our friends from the Edinburgh Whisky Group were celebrating one of our pals’ birthday. As we joined the jolly bunch in the rooftop bar, we realised how beautiful this place is, with an amazing view of our lovely neighbourhood, including the docks, and the rest of Edinburgh! We ordered a flight with their “creations”: the Table Whisky (a blended grain), the Perpetuity blend Batch 1 and 2, and a dram from Woven, a local small blending company. All decent drams, the Perpetuity Batch 2 won for all the three of us. We then joined the 1pm distillery tour: btw, we were surprised by the number of tours available!

How it all started with a wee still.

The tour started on a lower floor, where the guide Ellie told us the history of the company, born from the vision of Ian and Paddy, who started experimenting with a small Portuguese copper still (now on display) in their back garden. Their pursue of flavour, in particular the effect of yeast and barley strains, led them to partner with the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling, at the Herriot Watt University. After some stop-and-go that saw them losing the original plot where the distillery was supposed to be, they started Lind and Lime gin production, but then their vision finally came to life when they built the first vertical distillery in Scotland, and the highest in the world (42m, vs, Sweden’s Mackmyra 37m).

  • A very shiny mashtun.

In the production area, everything is brand new: in fact at the time of our visit they hadn’t started distilling yet. The mill is on the floor right below the hospitality ones, while the mashtun (semi-lauter) and seven 7,500 litres washbacks are located on the one just below. Ellie explained us that they use water from both Edinburgh tap and from a 132m deep borehole. They aim for a 1.5 hour mash, and a fermentation between 42 and 72 hours, and with of course lot of yeast experimentation. Further down, the two stills for the double distillation, behind a big window facing Newhaven. The spirit safe, conversely to many other distilleries (old and new) is made of stainless steel, and looks completely manual.

  • The still room from above.
  • The new-generation safe.

We finished the tour with a tasting, as usual. We got served two newmake spirits they did in collaboration with the Glasgow Distillery, made with two different yeasts, one was a Norwegian ale yeast. Then we had a sip of their Oloroso Sherry and Twany Port, which they bottle in Spain and Portugal (a good introduction to these fortified wines, but not great compared to other brands) and finally a dram of Bruichladdich Classic Laddie. Given that they have their range of blended whiskies, we felt this was an odd choice: in our understanding it is because of their admiration for the popular Islay distillery ethos… although we hope they won’t follow the “ethos” in pricing as well (wink wink!).

  • Getting ready for the tasting.

The tour ended in the shop, but not before bottling a 5cl of 40% newmake spirit to take home: a nice touch. Our afternoon continued with another couple of drams at the bar with our friends, before going home and then to watch the Rugby World Cup semi-final at the Dukes, which used to be our favourite fried chicken burger place in Leith (now they don’t do burgers anymore).

  • Not a bad view!

Overall, it was a nice tour in a spectacular building, although similarly to Penderyn Swansea, it was a bit weird to visit a distillery that has not started production yet: no mash and wash smell, no liquid flowing through the safe (well, the latter can happen also when visiting distilleries in the weekend, to be fair)… Hopefully they will be distilling soon, so all their experience and research can be finally put into practice!

Until next time, slainte!

Port of Leith Distillery Tour

Price: £26.00 pp (October 2023)

Duration: 1hr 15min

Tasting: two new make spirits with different yeast (produced at Glasgow distillery), Port of Leith Oloroso Sherry and Tawny Port, Bruichladdich Classic Laddie (and 5cl of newmake spirit to take home)

Target: everyone

Value for money: good

Highlights: the vertical production and the rooftop bar

Recommended: once they’ll start production, yes

Link: https://www.leithdistillery.com/

#34 One last stop before home






A new distillery in Moffat

 

TL; DR: You would think we visited enough distilleries in our summer holidays, but we managed to stick another one in at the last minute, while on the way home. Moffat, one of the newest in the Scottish Borders. Very experimental at this stage, it’ll be very interesting to see how their malt ends up being! 

After visiting a couple of English distilleries, and a few more down in Wales, we couldn’t end our holidays without a Scottish one, right? However, this distillery visit was not in the plans until the night before. After leaving Wales we briefly stopped in the cute town of Chester, where we had a half pint in a hidden pub called The Cavern of the Curious Gnome (to get there you need to go the balconies, the Rows, and the pub is above a wine bar that you need to cross).

Afterwards, we drove straight north, while having some sandwiches we’d prepared earlier. We spent the night at a farm-brewery, just before Lancaster, the Farm Brew Co (found on SearchForSites): if you have some pints there, they let you stay…And their beers are delicious, so we had a couple each and bought another few to bring home. While there, we were browsing on our phones, and realised that the Moffat Distillery had just opened to visitors. We’d already heard about them, and Moffat was on our road back to Leith, so why not? We booked right away!

  • The yummy beers we brought home.

In the morning we left early, unlike the sunny dusk the day before, it was a very cloudy and grey day. We stopped in rainy Carlisle for breakfast and to pay a visit to the House of Malt (they have very good deals sometimes), and then we drove straight to Moffat. The village looked very nice and quiet, like many others in the south of Scotland, with a large central square with shops, restaurants and cafes. The distillery is just outside the village heading south, in a wide clearing just off Old Carlisle Rd.

  • Unable to cope with the wind at Moffat distillery.

The building is clearly new, a black barn with a glass wall covering all the entrance side. We could see the visitor centre on the right, while on the left we could glimpse at the production area, although we could not see the stills as usually happens with new distilleries. As we entered the building, we realised how everything is new. The main room is very large, at the moment occupied by the visitor centre: a bar in the centre, the bottle shop on the left, some sofas on the right, and a grand piano just behind the bar.

  • Not so small as a visitor centre!

Alex (the bartender/guide) told us about the company, Dark Sky Spirits, founded in 2017 by Nick and Erin Bullard, focusing on sourced products. The name comes from Moffat being one of the first towns in Europe installing low-impact street lighting to decrease light pollution. A few years later they decided to start a distillery: permission was granted and land was purchased in 2020, ground was broken in 2021 and distilling from 2023, really just started. We soon moved to the production area, where Nick (founder and distiller) talked us through the process. They source the barley (Lauriet variety) in Fife, where it is also malted. The operation is very small at the moment (max capacity only about 12,000 litres per annum of alcohol), as they are in an experimental phase. Experiments include mixing regular and toasted/heavily toasted barley, brewer’s mashing (ie lower temperatures to retain sweetness), fermentation times (now fairly short at 39-42hrs, but planning for longer ones), and spirit cut (eg low wines at 29.5%, much higher than the usual ~20% in most distilleries).

  • Mashing and fermenting.
  • Experimenting with barley.


The mash tun and the washbacks are less than 500l (they use American yeast), while the wash and spirit stills are respectively 350 and 60 litres and at the moment, they sit outside in a container. Their main characteristic is that they are wooden fired, a unique feature among Scottish whisky distilleries.  They approximately fill one barrel per week, and mainly source barrels from Tennessee.

  • Can you distill in a container? Yes, you can.

Back inside, we spotted some of their casks in a “temporary warehouse”, and saw where the definitive stills will be in the future – now there is the gin still (200l) and the bottling equipment. Blending and bottling has been the main activity for Dark Sky Spirits, indeed. In 2020 they developed a range called Auld Special Edition, including two blended malts (#2 Spicy 13y, and #3 Fruity 15y, both 48%) and two single malts (#1 Smoky 16y, 47% and recently a 26y from Speyside Distillery, bottled at 45% and distilled in 1997). They also produce the Moffat blended malt (40%, NAS), recently replaced by the Doorhamer (blended malt, 40%, NAS), the Moffat gin and a series of gin liqueurs. Moreover, they bottle expressions for local events, like the Stranraer Oyster Festival or the Moffat Eagle Festival (this year both blended malts at 46%). All their products seem to be reasonably priced (still now, after the August increase in taxation).

  • Things we tasted.

Finally, we had a taster of their products at the bar (the tasting room was not ready, in our understanding): Moffat blended malt, Moffat gin and some gin liqueurs. However, Alex was nice enough to pour us wee samples of their Smoky and Fruity whiskies, the latter being the winner for us. With that our visit finished, and we slowly drove through the south of Scotland to Leith. This distillery was one of the few that left us with more curiosity than before we entered, honestly. It is going to be very interesting in the coming years to see how this distillery will develop, and in particular to understand how the wooden fire still will affect the whisky, in texture and taste.

Until next time, slainte!

Moffat Distillery Tour

Price: £20.00 pp (July 2023)

Duration: 1hr 15min (on paper, but Nick got carried away and it was actually longer)

Tasting: Moffat gin, the Moffat Blended Malt (40%, NAS, 2536 bottles), and gin liqueurs

Target: tourists and craft distilling geeks

Value for money: ok

Highlights: the wooden fired stills

Recommended: if you’re driving on the A74, a stop won’t hurt 😉

Link: https://www.moffatdistillery.com/