TL; DR: Back home, we thought we could fit another whisky experience before officially ending our holidays. The choice was easy, and on paper relatively close: Glenkinchie, a distillery we’d meant to (re)visit for a while after it became one of Diageo’s Four Corners of Scotland. Very interesting to taste whiskies generally not on our radar, but what made the experience even more special was to have a whisky friend as our guide!

(missed Part 2/Part 1?)

As we wrote in the last few posts, our holiday on the Outer Hebrides got literally blown away by high winds, which prevented the ferries to safely sail to destination. As a backup, we visited a new distillery, Toulvaddie, and revisited another one after a revamp, Glenturret, before driving back home, where we arrived, a bit sad, on a Saturday late afternoon.

Because we were officially still on holidays, Sunday was open to some extra whisky activity. We didn’t let this go, and we decided to revisit a distillery we’d first visited a long time ago and that meanwhile had undergone some substantial changes: Glenkinchie distillery. When we visited the first time, renovations were under way, as the distillery was due to become one of the Johnny Walker’s Four Corners of Scotland, together with Clynelish (Highlands), Cardhu (Speyside) and Caol Ila (Islay). In the meantime, we didn’t get much acquainted with this whisky: the basic 12y is ok but not the most flavoursome, other expressions released by Diageo at higher abv are usually very expensive (like the 27y 2023 Special Release or the 16y Four Corners of Scotland). It is also hard to find it from independent bottlers, with the exception of a recent release from Woodrow’s of Edinburgh, a tasty sherry bomb!

Glenkinchie is one of the closest distilleries to Edinburgh, but it’s not the easiest to reach: located in Peastonbank, near Pencaitland, it’s about 15 miles from the city centre. On the website, in the tours’ description, they advertise an external company offering return trips from St Andrews Square (only certain days of the week) for £35 per person, which for a couple (or any group bigger than one really) is borderline extortionate: probably it comes cheaper to just get a taxi. During the week there is a bus that brings you there, the East Coast Bus service 123 from Haddington (here the timetable, while here you can check the route, just remember to select “long loop”). On a Sunday, however, the closest bus stop is in Pencaitland, via service 113. However, we realised that there was a path from Pencaitland to the distillery, off the roads and mainly in the woods, and the weather forecasts were looking decent…

So there we were: on a sunny Sunday morning, waiting for the 113 bus in a very quiet Regent Rd (near Calton Hill). In Pencaitland, after just over one hour ride, we got off at the stop near the park, to wait for the new cafe and convenience store The Granny Shop to open: there we got coffee and delicious morning rolls. The walk to the distillery (about 2 miles) took slightly less than 40 minutes, and past the village we easily found the path in the woods. At the end of it, a gravel path set up by the distillery, ending directly in the backyard, near the warehouses. As we approached the distillery, we also saw a sign from the Winton pub (also in Pencaitland), saying they’d pick you up for free, if you then went there (for a meal, we guess?).

Finally, we were there at opening time, 10am: we were welcomed by our friend John, who recently started working there as a senior tour guide. He’s part of the Edinburgh Whisky Group, and we’ve been together to tastings and one recent day trip to Glasgow distillery. After a quick catch-up and some pleasantries, it was time to start the tour! We first delved into the history of the distillery, highlighted by panels on the wall with parallel timelines for Glenkinchie and Johnnie Walker. Founded as Milton in 1825, Glenkinchie was registered in 1837 only. Unfortunately a big change saw it turned into a sawmill in 1853 by a local farmer (!!!), only to be reconverted into a distillery in the 1890s. Nowadays its capacity is around 2.5 million litres per year, 90% of which going into Johnnie Walker. Being in East Lothian, the sunniest part of Scotland, Diageo considers it the “garden distillery”, so they aim for a floral character: this is remarked by a well curated garden in front of the new visitor centre. The maltings used to run on coal but were decommissioned in 1968. The building now hosts, among the other things, a not-so-miniature model of a distillery: originally built for the 1920 London Exhibition, it’s very accurate in showing all the steps of whisky production. Apparently it used to work, even after it was reassembled at Glenkinchie, but because of various reasons (including HMRC), it was decommissioned.

Moving on to the real production, six malt bins feed the Porteus mill (acquired second-hand in the 1960s) almost twice a day when in operation (we visited towards the end of the silent season, which was extended this year to allow some extra repairs). Each batch takes one ton of barley in the full lauter mashtun, and 44,000 litres of water: 33,000 litres for the first run at 64°C; 11,000 litres for the second run at 74°C; finally the third and last run of 33,000 litres at 84°C is used as first water for the next batch, after going through a heat exchanger. Before the silent season the total mashes per week were 13, to leave some space for cleaning, but they are planning on a five-day production going forward. To note, the production water is taken from the Kinchie burn, and sent back there after a passage through cooling ponds, part of a regenerative project.

Fermentation is carried out in one of the 6 wooden washbacks (Douglas fir), for about 72 hours to obtain about 8% wash, using distiller’s yeast. Each batch of wash is used to feed two distillation cycles. The wash still (the biggest on the mainland) is charged with about 20,000 litres, to obtain low wines at 23%. The second distillation’s cuts are 75% and 65%, and are done manually, with the leftover foreshots and feints redistilled with the next batch. Both stills work with steam obtained by burning gas, and they have wormtub condensers: it is almost counterintuitive how such floral spirit is obtained with such big stills and wormtubs, usually associated with more robust whisky characters. The other leftovers of the process, pot ale and draff, are sold to local farmers. Finally, the newmake spirit is filled into tankers and sent to Leven (where Cameronbridge is) for cask filling, although they still have about 3-4,000 casks on site in a few warehouses (one is accessible by doing another experience, The Spirit of Warehouse No. 4).

After this very nerdy tour, we were ready for the tasting. First, our tour included a cask sample of choice between four available: two Glenkinchie expressions (2008 American oak first fill ex-bourbon barrel, 58.4%, and 2015 ex-red wine cask, 59.8%), a 2008 Caol Ila (58.7%) and a 2007 Cameronbridge (63.1%), both ex-bourbon barrels. This happened in a narrow corridor with a few other casks as well: it is what remains of their previous warehouse located in what now is the shop and visitor centre. We chose the two Glenkinchie-s, the 2008 in particular was truly an exceptional dram: oily, floral, buttery, with hints of riped fruit and tropical notes – yes, please!

Next, we had a full-flight vertical tasting of the Glenkinchie range, in a tasting room above the entrance and with a great view of the garden: the classic 12y, the Distillers Edition, the Distillery Exclusive, the bottle-your-own (from an ex red wine cask) and finally the Johnnie Walker 18y. This was supposed to be the last dram, but John suggested to start the tasting with it, since it was the only dram bottled at 40%: a very good advice. The tasting was very interesting, and provided some different takes on the Glenkinchie: the ones we liked the most were the Distillers Edition (Amontillado sherry casks really elevate this dram) and the Distillery Exclusive, fresh and fizzy. We confirmed that the standard 12y is a bit bland, while the bottle-your-own was a wine-bomb (we’re not against that like some other whisky fans, but we reckon it is not for all palates…probably growing up in Italy gave us enhanced tannins tolerance).

After the tasting, we grabbed a coffee and a tasty bite at the distillery cafe, and we slowly walked back to Pencaitland to grab a bus back to the city centre. We went to Diggers to finish up the afternoon with a few drams, before going back to Leith to, this time for real, end our “holidays”.

We usually don’t comment too much on the tour guides, because we know that for many it’s just a job, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. However, having someone knowledgeable and passionate like John really elevated the experience to a different level of detail and appreciation, and his guide through the tasting was great.

For the current times we think it’s borderline but still a decent value proposition at £65 for a 2hr tour, with 6 drams, of which 2 bottled at cask strength, and the 15ml pours are good for us: we’re not there to get pished! Prices in the shop are the usual for Diageo: good for the standard range (including the Distillers Edition), high for the Distillery Exclusive, and nonsensical the bottle-your-own (and the various special releases). There are other experiences available that are not distillery tours, so we might go back at some point: asking for John, first!

Well, that’s it for now. Until next time, slàinte!

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Glenkinchie Flavour & Cask Experience

Price: £65.00 pp (September 2025)

Duration: 2hr

Tasting: Glenkinchie 12 (43%), Distillers Edition (43%, NAS, Amontillado finish), Distillery Exclusive (NAS, 48%, Re-charred and American oak apple brandy casks), Bottle-your-own (12y, 48.4%, American oak California red wine cask), Johnnie Walker 18y (40%), one cask sample of choice (see above for the selection)

Target: whisky fans and geeks

Value for money: good

Highlights: the sample from the cask and the bar overlooking the garden

Recommended: yes, but ask for John!

Link: https://www.malts.com/en-gb/glenkinchie/visit

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