Glenkinchie Whisky – Distillery Visit

Glenkinchie Whisky Distilleryglenkinchie-distillery
Pencaitland
Tranent
East Lothian
EH34 5ET

telephone 01875 342004

website www.malts.com

Owner, Diageo

The home of this Distillery in the village of Pencaitland which is only about 14/15 miles outside Edinburgh. Being so close to Scotland’s capital all the labels proudly state “The Edinburgh Malt”. Glenkinchie is one of only 2/3 remaining lowland distilleries and sits among barley fields.

The Lammermuir Hills are close by, and the surrounding area is well known for its fantastic farmland.

The Whisky Boys have for quite some time wanted to visit this Distillery. On Friday 30th April 2010 Jim and Nicola headed out of Longcroft towards the motorway for the relatively short drive ( a little over and hour ).

This Distillery is set in a beautiful part of East Lothian, rolling farmlands and some lovely small villages and their old cottages, very nice indeed.

The roads were quite quiet and in no time we had arrived to find ample parking and just a short walk to the visitor centre.

We were met by Christina who, a little later would take us on the tour.glenknchie-distillery

This Distillery has a great Whisky Exhibition which is laid out on the old malting floors, and all visitors should take their time and enjoy this exhibition including some fantastic scale models of the Distillation process.

The Distillery also has a large shop and includes many of the expressions from The Classic Malts.

So the tour started and we very impressed by Christina our tour guide for the day as she was bubbly and well knowledged about Whisky and especially enthusiastic about the Glenkinchie Distillery and its products.

We were shown round all the production area’s of the Distillery including the Still room which Christina told about the main still being the largest one in Scotland, very impressive.

The tour concluded by Christina inviting us into the Distillery bar for a tasting. The bar is really well stocked with all the Malts and Blends from The Classic Malts.  Our first taste was the Glenkinchie 12 year old ( check out our full Glenkinchie tasting article on this site )

Jim followed his dram of Glenkinchie with a tot of Caol Ila Distillers Edition, two grand drams.

Nicola followed her dram of Glenkinchie with a nip of Talisker Distillers Edition and a final tot of a 15 Year Old Dalwhinnie, great choices.

When we had finished our drams we headed out to the shop where Nicola purchased a bottle of Dimple and Jim a bottle of 16 Year Old Dailuaine. These were a bargain, as part of the tour you get a voucher which entitles you to £5.00 off any bottle from the shop.

Well, that was a great tour, enhanced by the company and enthusiasm of Christina, who chatted and told us that she was originally from Austria and married a Scots lad and settled down in Scotland and she also told us about her love for Whisky. If only more tour guides could be like Christina then more and more visitors to the Distilleries of Scotland would have a really enjoyable and enthusiastic tour.

Well, all The Whisky Boys have to say is thanks to Glenkinchie and especially Christina for a great afternoon.

To our readers if you ever get the chance to be in Edinburgh or the surrounding area make it a must to visit Glenkinchie, you will be made very welcome, and remember to tell them that The Whisky Boys sent you.

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3 Responses

  1. Christina Thompson says:

    hi!!
    we just read your comments about glenkinchie and i’m absolutely delighted what you wrote!!
    i’m so glad that you enjoyed my tour and it was lovely meeting you!

    christina and the kinchie team 🙂

  2. Nicola says:

    Hi Christina, thanks for leaving such a wonderful comment. Hopefully we will get a chance to come visit Glenkichie again soon, I loved everything…

    Nicola

  3. John says:

    Hi I’m trying to trace a Maureen Coleman who lived in brewers house glenkinchie last heard off her 1981 her brother was called Jim Maureen will be around age 52 now we both attended Ross high school tranent 1979 would be nice to hear from her only info I got can you help me pls ? Back then I was known as jack as to many John’s thanks John Simpson

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