Edinburgh Gin is a gin that has been made in the heart of Edinburgh since 2010. It is a classic London gin and has now been complemented by 10 flavoured gins and 11 gin liqueurs.
But this blog is not about buying stuff – it’s about visiting places. And the reason that this post is about gin is here is that you can visit and tour the distillery where Edinburgh Gin is made.
But it’s not just the branded Edinburgh Gin that’s made in Edinburgh – there are others, hidden in their little gin distilleries around Edinburgh. Pickerings Gin, Lind & Lime Gin and Achroous Gin are all made in little distilleries in Edinburgh and you can visit them all if you’ve a mind to.
Since there’s a gin, from Edinburgh that’s actually called Edinburgh Gin, let’s start there.
Edinburgh Gin
The Edinburgh Gin distillery started distilling gin in 2010 and now has a range of 11 gins as well as 11 gin liqueurs. The original Edinburgh Gin is what’s known as a London Dry gin (see below).
Edinburgh Gin is distilled at two distilleries in Edinburgh. The larger of the two is based at the Biscuit Factory in Leith. The Biscuit Factory distillery however is not open to the public. You can, however, tour the smaller distillery and to find it you need to get to the very centre of the city.
The Edinburgh Gin distillery is located in Rutland Place at the West End. Make your way there to see how their two pot stills, Flora and Caledonia, make Edinburgh Gin. You’ll see the stills in action, the ‘botanicals’ the special ingredients like Juniper that flavour the gin and get to hear from the distillers, the people that make the gin. And, of course, you get to taste it.
It isn’t suitable for wheelchair users as visitors need to descend 16 steps in the old building.
Tours run every day and must be booked in advance.
Getting to the Edinburgh Gin Distillery
As the distillery is in the centre of the town, street parking is limited and expensive. If you’re arriving by car, it’s best to park at the Castle Terrace car park, which is about a five minute walk from the distillery. Do remember that you’ll be tasting gin however and if the driver wants some too, then it’s best to leave the car and walk or take the bus.
And again, because the distillery is in the centre of the town, there is an abundance of buses that stop near the distillery. Numbers 1, 10, 11, 15, 16, 22, 24, 30, 34, 36, and 47 stop outside the side of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Lothian Road, leaving a short five minute walk to the distillery.
Numbers 3, 4, 12, 25, 26, 31, 33 and 44 stop at Shandwck Place, near the front of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and again is a five minute walk from the distillery.
Other Edinburgh Gins
There are two other Edinburgh gins made in the city – they just don’t have ‘Edinburgh’ in their name. They are Pickerings Gin and Lund & Lime Gin and both distilleries have visitor centres.
Pickerings Gin
Pickerings Gin is slightly younger than Edinburgh Gin, having started distilling in 2013. The distillery is located at Summerhall, a wonderful series of old buildings located just opposite the Meadows, the large park near the centre of the old town.
Pickerings is an interesting story. It’s located at the Summerhall Arts Venue (a huge venue for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the summer) but before Summerhall was an arts venue it was home to the city’s Royal Veterinary College, affectionately known in Edinburgh as the Dick Vet.
It was in a part of Summerhall where the old dog kennels were, that the two founders were working and renovating. As it happened, one of them had inherited a family gin recipe from India. So they put both building and recipe together to start a gin distillery.
Today it makes a range of seven gins, including the gin made from the original inherited Indian recipe. And like the other distilleries, it’s open for tours.
The tour gets you into the swing of things from the start. As you arrive, you’re given a gin & tonic to begin your tour. After the tour of the distillery to see how they make their gin, you’re treated to a tutored gin tasting.
Tours run from Thursday through Sunday.
Getting To Pickerings Gin
If you’re anywhere in the old town, then it’s a very pleasant walk to the Pickerings distillery. From the Royal Mile, head south across George IV bridge. Keep walking straight, passing the National Museum on your left until you come to a hill that will take you to the Meadows. On your right as you walk, you’ll pass the old Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, now undergoing extensive refurbishment and conversion.
Into the Meadows and head south east across the park until you come to the traffic lights at the end of Melville Drive. Summerhall is opposite.
It’s possible to drive there too. There are no car parks but on street parking is relatively inexpensive. Check maximum stay at the parking ticket machines. Street parking is free on Sundays.
By bus, take numbers 41 and 42.
Lind & Lime Gin
There’s a third distillery in Edinburgh and that’s the Leith Distillery. Unlike what you might expect when you think of a distillery, this distillery is a sleek new, modern building in Leith Docks, just along from where the Royal Yacht Britannia is permanently moored.
The distillery is being primarily for whisky production but as it’s not quite ready, gin production, which is generally a much smaller operation than making whisky, is at the Tower Street Stillhouse.
There, they make a single brand of Lind & Lime gin, a London Dry gin, which won the 2020 Scottish Gin of the Year award.
The name, by the way, celebrates the great Navy doctor, Robert Lind, who found that citrus prevented scurvy, the condition that plagued and very often killed sailors on long sea voyages.
The Lime in the name is obviously linked to Lind’s famous discovery about citrus preventing scurvy, but it also celebrates the invention of Rose’s Lime Cordial, created by Lachlan Rose in Leith in 1867.
The distillery tour lasts for 75 minutes and you’re given a gin & tonic on arrival. It’s a small, working stillhouse so dress warmly if you’re there when it’s cold.
Incidentally, the Stillhouse is shared with another Edinburgh gin maker. The Electric Spirit Company makes its trademark red bottle Achroous Gin there and shares the still with Lind & Lime.
Getting To The Stillhouse
The number 16 bus stops almost right outside the Stillhouse on Tower Street in Leith.
If you’re driving, then there’s plenty of free parking (although remember, this is a gin-tasting you’re going to).
London Dry Gin And How It’s Made
Historically, gin is widely associated with being distilled in London. At the end of the 17th century and into the 18th century, there were around 7,500 ‘gin shops’ in London alone selling gin. That all came to a grinding halt when the government slapped a tax on it and rioting ensued in the streets.
The gin distilled at this time wasn’t particularly dry at all. In fact, it was quite sweet. Often it was flavoured with sugar and was called Old Tom’s Gin. This particular style of gin lasted right into the early 20th century before dying out.
It was the introduction of the Column Still that allowed for much higher concentrations of alcohol in the finished spirit that enabled a much drier gin that became known as London Dry.
Although it was a Scotsman, Robert Stein, who first made the Column or Continuous Still into a production still for whisky, it had many flaws, not least of which it had be dismantled frequently for cleaning. It was the still patented by Irishman, Aeneas Coffey, that perfected the art of continuous distilling and indeed the continuous or column still is often called a Coffey Still today.
The introduction of the Coffey Still allowed for mass production of highly concentrated alcohol and with the addition of the traditional (and mandatory) Juniper flavouring made the familiar dry gin that we drink today.