Edinburgh Gin
I visited the new Edinburgh Gin Distillery, which is located at The Arches, East Market Street, just along from Waverley Station. Great location, with a gift shop and a bar that provides a good view of the Martyrs of Reform Monument and Governor’s House. I managed to take a video of a steam train leaving Waverley Station from this vantage point and that was so cool to see.
The tour was great. There were twelve of us which is a good number. It’s a small place, and I think any more on a tour it would start to feel crowded. The guide was extremely knowledgeable and talked us through the process of how gin is made. The tasting at the end was a lot of fun though slightly challenging in a good way. I drink whisky neat, but not really gin, but the point was to try the spirit and then add in a botanical to appreciate the difference in taste. Then you could add tonic if you wanted to. The gin liquors in the Edinburgh range are produced to drink neat, though of course if you wish to pour in some tonic then that’s fine.
After the tour we visited the bar and I tried a Tiramisu flavoured gin which was excellent. While visiting the gift shop I discovered that this was a special and the distillery had only produced 7,000 bottles. At the time of writing there is no guarantee they will produce more. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I appreciate it’s not to everyone’s taste. I purchased a bottle to keep but then discovered that folk really wanted to try it, so I ended up going back two days later and buying a second bottle, which I hope will remain sealed as a collector’s item.
I really enjoyed the experience and will certainly visit the gift shop and bar in future. If you are in Edinburgh, but don’t have time for the tour, it’s worth just going along and seeing the impressive copper stills from the street, as they back on to large windows and are on display.
The Fiction Factory 