Whisky: dram fine city slickers

“We identified an opportunity that there wasn’t a whisky distillery in Scotland’s capital city at the time, which seemed crazy,” recalls former wine merchant Ian.

Leith was once Edinburgh’s main whisky district and having previously been the only area with a warrant for the bonding of spirits, it was an ideal location.

“We also happened upon this site next to the Royal Yacht Britannia because investors could see it working from a visitor perspective,” Ian explains.

“Scotch whisky is a difficult business to break into because you need so much cash upfront to build a distillery, and so much money every year to produce whisky before you can sell anything.

“The model of being in a city will allow us to locate ourselves near to visitors – and by having lots of visitors to a distillery, those revenues can pay for production.”

The 70-strong team is on track to welcome more than 100,000 visitors to their nine-storey centre next year with plans to release a single malt whisky in eight years.

Ian believes city-based distilleries have a greater opportunity to be sustainable, as well as being able to attract tourists.

He says: “Compared to rural locations, you are able to plug right into existing utilities. The gas and water is right there and your supply chain is right on your doorstep. You are cutting out a load of food miles and carbon from the supply chain.”

Sustainability is also at the heart of the Uile-bheast Distillery & Brewery in Inverness, which became the city’s first whisky distillery in 130 years when it opened in February.

Most of the £7.5m investment went towards building a low-carbon energy centre to utilise the power of the River Ness and fuel the machinery.

Its single malt whisky has to mature in sherry and bourbon casks for another three years, yet in the meantime, tours of the facility are proving to be highly successful.

Uile-bheast’s marketing executive Connor-Brian Williams explains: “We are the first ticketed tourist attraction within Inverness, which is really exciting. Inverness is a city that is ever-evolving and growing, so it requires more things for people to do.

“People can now base themselves in Inverness and don’t have to hire a car or take a taxi to visit the distilleries scattered across the Highlands which are not so accessible.

“Sustainability is not just about green practices, it is about diversity, equity and inclusion.

“One of our bar managers has an incredible knowledge of whisky and she is now an apprentice distiller, which is fantastic because that opportunity wasn’t there before in Inverness.”

Uile-bheast is currently in its first phase and the second phase is expected to see the creation of new bars and another restaurant at the centre, together with hopes for a distilling campus.

The success of city-based new-wave distilleries is evident from the growth of The Glasgow Distillery in the city’s Hillington area, which predominantly exports to markets including South Korea, Australia, and Germany.

The brand is expanding into the US where the whisky is being released in different states on a monthly basis.

The business began in 2012 and six years later released its first single malt called 1770 in honour of the original Glasgow Distillery. Production has grown from 5,000 bottles in 2018, to 120,000 this year.

“What makes us different is we are producing three different styles,” says Sebastian Bunford-Jones, its head of marketing and brands.

“We are making light, easy-to-drink whiskies and smoky ones, as well as everything in between while experimenting with different yeast strains and malts.

“By producing three core DNAs it is like having three distilleries in the one building. We can create a broad range of flavour, which is what the modern whisky consumer is looking for.”

Sebastian says that while the tourism model clearly works well for new distilleries, there is an increase in demand for whisky by city residents.

“There is a strong appetite in major cities for locally made products as people can really identify with that.

“The Glaswegian whisky enthusiast base is very strong and to have a whisky made locally that they can call their own is a very powerful thing.”