What I learned from Edinburgh Gin Distillery visit

Glasgow-based Edrington has made a huge investment in its visitor experience at The Macallan Distillery at Craigellachie on Speyside. And, in the Scottish capital, Diageo has invested heavily in its Johnnie Walker Princes Street experience.

The major investment in the new Edinburgh Gin Distillery and visitor centre feels like it epitomises distillers’ awareness of the importance of such experiences to their broader businesses.

Over the years and decades, I have had the opportunity to visit a fair number of distilleries and speak to the people in charge.

Highlights have included interviewing whisky industry veteran Hiroyoshi “Mike” Miyamoto at Suntory’s Yamazaki Distillery, south-west of the ancient Japanese city of Kyoto, back in 2010.

As I noted at the time: “He talks of himself as a whisky engineer and about the science of the production process. He emphasises his belief there should be continuous improvement in the product. Miyamoto also highlights his view that the Scotch whisky industry is more resistant to change.”

Read more

Ian McConnell: Distillery lifts spirit of fragile Isle of Harris

Ian McConnell: Taiwan's connoisseurs have long enjoyed premium whisky offering

Isle of Harris: Distillery to double in size with Hearach

Of course, it was fascinating to view and hear about the production process at Yamazaki, and the rows of barrels were an impressive sight, though what perhaps stuck most in the mind was the door being opened on to the beautiful gardens at the distillery.

A browse of the Yamazaki Distillery website today highlights the range of tours open to visitors in this beautiful setting.

Closer to home, another highlight was visiting Isle of Harris Distillery.

I started writing about this project when it was little more than a dream, and the journey of those with the vision to build a community distillery from the early days to their eventual realisation of their ambition has been fascinating to watch.

Having been in touch with Isle of Harris Distillers managing director Simon Erlanger from the early days, and having talked to him at length around the time of the distillery’s opening in 2015, it was a pleasure to visit Tarbert in September 2017 and see for myself what had been achieved.

Edinburgh Gin Distillery (Image: Mike Wilkinson/ Edinburgh Gin Distillery)

The multi-million-pound distillery project, the vision of US-born musicologist Anderson Bakewell, had been many years in the making.

Even after the drive through the stunning scenery of hills and water to Tarbert, after landing at Stornoway Airport, the distillery was certainly no anti-climax.

It provides such crucial employment for a fragile island community.

The number of jobs provided is not large by city standards but, having had the opportunity to cover remote and island communities for a couple of years at The Oban Times, I was in no doubt about the difference which an employer of the size of Isle of Harris Distillers makes.

Read more

• Famous Scotch whisky brand sale - the story behind it

• Scotch whisky distiller not shouting from rooftops. What's going on? 

Some people, of course, want to leave the islands to pursue their dreams elsewhere. However, it is crucial that there are good employment opportunities for those who want to stay in the communities in which they grew up.

The distillery immediately became a central part of the community on Harris. The workforce had grown by September 2017 to about 30 people, already exceeding the distillery’s initial target of 19 by more than 50%.

In 2016, its first full year of operation, the distillery had 69,000 visitors. 

And the tour and interview with Scotch whisky industry veteran Mr Erlanger, like the story of Isle of Harris Distillery from the earliest days, was captivating.

Isle of Harris Distillery has already enjoyed notable success with The Hearach, its single malt Scotch whisky for which it has adopted the Gaelic word for a native of Harris.

Many people will, of course, also know Isle of Harris Distillery for its award-winning gin.

Returning to the recently opened Edinburgh Gin Distillery, this experience was as part of a private group tour rather than a visit to interview the head of the operation.

It had been many years since I had been on such a group tour of a drinks operation – decades since visiting the Guinness brewery in Dublin or Blandy’s at Funchal on Madeira.

What was particularly striking was the immersive nature of the experience at the new gin distillery building at The Arches on East Market Street.

And the architecture of the new building for Edinburgh Gin, a business which was founded by Alex and Jane Nicol before being acquired by Ian Macleod Distillers in 2016, was impressive.

In a recent interview with The Herald, Staran Architects co-founder Iain Shillady highlighted the completion of the Edinburgh Gin Distillery and visitor centre as “a huge accomplishment for the team” at the practice.

On the tour, there was a short video weaving together the histories of Edinburgh and gin.

And then it was on to the “flavour arch”, and parallels were drawn with Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. This seemed like a fair enough analogy given the bold colours and design.

The last time I had eaten a juniper berry was on the Akamas peninsula in Cyprus, and it was somewhat dusty.

At the Edinburgh Gin Distillery, there was the opportunity to sample both North Macedonian and Italian juniper, presented on a serving platter that was reminiscent of a Solitaire board.

Tour guide Holly provided a wealth of information on the various botanicals, and about the production process. We heard about “heads” and “tails” gin at the start and end of a batch which is not bottled for sale, and the need to judge when the various stages are reached in the production process.

Many botanicals were handed round, and some sampled, including cardamom. There was a vast array of other botanicals on display, including frankincense and myrrh.

The tour ended with a tasting session, trying the various gins neat, then with accompaniments such as orange peel or basil, and then paired with a mixer. This was fascinating and surprising in terms of the different flavours in each case.

Having written about many of the investments in visitor experiences in recent times, it was interesting to sample from a consumer point of view how sophisticated these have become.

And it left no doubt about just how much such offerings from drinks industry players add to what Scotland has to offer as a tourist destination.