New Distillery in the Port of Leith

The Port of Leith Distillery was founded in 2014, and is currently on course to open its doors in 2021.  The Company is committed to bringing a modern approach to the production of our national drink – as is evidenced by a two year research collaboration with Heriot Watt University, which underpins the project.  Until whisky production and maturation can commence, in common with some other new distilleries, the Company has established a small gin distillery – its trademark product is Lind and Lime Gin,  London Dry in style, with the key components consisting of carefully selected botanicals, lime and pink peppercorns.  Port of Leith gin engages with the storied history of Edinburgh’s famous old port.

Not content with producing gin, the Distillery is also importing and selling fine Oloroso sherry from Spain, which has been used to season the casks for whisky maturation, thus reflecting back to bygone days, when the Port of Leith was at the epicentre of Scotland’s whisky trade.  Casks of sherry which arrived into Leith were decanted into locally manufactured bottles, for sale. Whisky merchants purchased the empty sherry casks, in which they then stored their maturing spirit in the many bonded warehouses which once lined the shore. These merchants discovered that this method of storage transformed the whisky spirit and a major innovation in whisky production was born on Edinburgh’s doorstep.

In our Blog of 12th October 2018 (Links Between Drinks), we reported on a tour of the Lustau Bodega, in Jerez de la Frontera in Spain, which specialises mainly in the production of sherries and vermouths. During our visit, Lustau’s guide pointed out a section of their oak casks which are being aged in Spain, specifically for export to whisky distilleries in Scotland, in this case Highland Park, distilled in Orkney. We noted that these are not, in fact, very old sherry casks, but ageing casks at Lustau can still take up to 15 years, before the casks are ready to be shipped to Scotland to lend the whisky a distinctive additional flavour, as it matures.

In the case of the Port of Leith Distillery, however, a somewhat different and innovative approach is being employed.  As the Distillery tells us:

“There are several different styles of sherry, each with a slightly different production method. One thing that they all have in common is the maturation process known as a ‘Solera System’.  A solera is made up of several layers of barrels. New wine fills up to 25% of the first layer of barrels, and up to 25% of the wine already in that layer is passed to the second layer.  continues down the layers until some is taken out of the bottom layer for bottling.

The barrels in a solera are generally so old that the wood itself has little or no influence upon the wine. What happens instead is that the wine slowly oxidises and blends with the older wines already contained in the solera, so that the wine emerging from the bottom is a delicious mix of young and old.

This is how the wine in our Port of Leith Distillery Sherry has been matured.  However we won’t use solera casks to mature our whisky; we want to exert some influence from the oak itself, and these barrels are much too old to do that.  Instead, we will take the same wine and fill it into new oak barrels, specially produced for us in Spain. The wine will season the cask over 12 to 18 months, and the empty barrel will then be shipped to our warehouse in Leith to be filled with spirit.”

Inevitably, the quality of the producer’s wine and casks will have a very significant impact upon the eventual Single Malt Whisky, and The Port of Leith Distillery has built a lasting relationship with like-minded people at Bodegas Baron – a family owned bodega in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, at the apex of Spain’s world renowned sherry triangle. Founded in 1631, Bodegas Baron employs a modern approach whilst being situated in  a very traditional region, thus resonating with the aims and situation of the Port of Leith Distillery.

The Distillery describes its sherry as “a refreshing, dry style of Oloroso, with zingy citrus notes, dried fruit, and a beautiful array of nutty flavours. It’s delicious served at room temperature with a plate of charcuterie, or chilled on a hot summer’s evening.”

So whilst the long term goal of the Distillery clearly is the production of a unique, high quality Single Malt Whisky, the Port of Leith Distillery also offers its own gin and a high quality sherry – definitely a case of back to the future, and yet another example of the fascinating links between drinks, in these exciting times for whisky distilling in Edinburgh!