Glenkinchie Distillery Tour: A Gem in the Outskirts of Edinburgh
I'm not a whisky drinker, so I became the designated driver that evening! It gave Tom a chance to sample some single malt Scotch that you can't really get anywhere else, at least not as local as this being right at the source. I took my samples home with me but I've given them to my dad to try because I think he might enjoy them. However, I'm going off on a tangent now, haha. You want to hear about the tour.
We'll get onto that in a moment because I want to just appreciate how pretty and well-presented this distillery is. Many of the distilleries I've been to are quite basic and functional, but this one focuses on the marketing more so than any other whisky distillery I've been to.
The Glenkinchie entrance & gift shop
Granted, it encourages you to make a sale while you're there, but I think it really makes the experience, right from the start, before the tour has even begun. Take a look at some pictures of the walk up to the building and gift shop below, you'll see what I mean about its overall brand image:
That was all before the tour even started! There was only myself, Tom, another tourist and the tour guide who were on the tour, so it was very intimate, which I think made for an experience that we wouldn't have got if there were many people on the tour.
To make things even more impressive, I got to ring the bell at the start to kick the tour off. The bell I rung was over 100 years old and was once used to let their workers know that their break times were up - how cool is that?! So the tour had begun and we were on our way through the Gelnkinchie journey.
The Glenkinchie Distillery whisky tour
We started off the tour learning more about Johnnie Walker and how Glenkinchie got its name. They reference Johnnie Walker, despite offering a variety of blended whisky, because Johnnie Walker blends its whiskey using Glenkichie single malt whisky, along with lots of other single malts.
Glenkinchie, however, is a single malt whisky in its own right, and it's not exactly affordable, either. With that in mind, and forgetting about the Johnnie Walker brand for the foreseeable, we learnt more about what goes into a Glenkinchie single malt whisky, from grass and cereals to flowers and free-flowing water, it was incredibly interesting despite not being a whisky drinker.
After we had learnt about what goes into the Glenkinchie whisky, we then took a look at a large model of the distillery itself, which actually makes whisky if you put barley in one end. It was displayed at the World Showcase during the 1800s and is the only one of its kind in the world. It was worth going all of that way just to see that, really, because I'm a bit of a history buff to be honest, haha. Take a look at the model below:
After this room, it was time to enter the production line. This is where all of the whisky is made. It's a functioning distillery, so there are people on the shop floor who are working on producing the Glenkinchie whisky. We were taken through the process verbally and then it was all pointed out to us along the way, so we could see the whole process in action, from start to finish. I won't go through it all on here because I want you to learn about it on the tour, but if you're a whisky pro, you'll know what all of the following pictures are showing you :)
The Glenkinchie tasting session
At the end of the tour, we were guided through to a mini warehouse, which is where they keep a handful of their maturing barrels of whisky. All made from reclaimed American oak that had been used previously for whisky, gin and even red wine, there were barrels upon barrels of Glenkinchie whisky being left to age and they'll stay in there for about 12 years.
They also have a double-matured whisky which is one that has been left to age in one barrel for a period of time and then moved to another barrel for the remainder of its maturation. The tour guide then opened up a few barrels so we could try the scent of the liquid inside and you'd be amazed at how different each one smells depending on the type of wood and the previous use of the barrel it's being matured in. It really was very interesting to hear how it differs from other whisky distilleries.
We were then taken into a room where we tasted the whisky, although I didn't. Instead, I smelt each whisky and then funnelled it into some small individually-labelled glass bottles so I could try it later, although I gave mine to my dad.
We also got a cocktail each, but mine wasn't alcoholic, although it was still delicious none-the-less. It was generally great tour, even if you aren't into whisky. You learn a lot about the history, the process and the whisky itself, but it's done in a way that's fun and informative whilst also being engaging and comedic at at times. I highly-recommend this if you're ever in the area.
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I hope you enjoyed this blog post? Let me know in the comments below whether you've been on this distillery tour or if you have a view to go there on your Edinburgh trip and I'll see you again very soon with a brand new blog post!
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