Glenkinchie Distillery, East Lothian: The Edinburgh Malt

Overview

Glenkinchie, set among the barley fields of East Lothian only about 15 miles from Edinburgh, is often called “the Edinburgh malt”. It makes a gentle, grassy, lightly floral Lowland whisky and represents the Lowland style among Diageo’s “Classic Malts”. Its handsome Victorian buildings house a fine old working model of a distillery, built for the 1920s Empire Exhibition.

The history

Glenkinchie was founded as a farm distillery in the 1820s by the farming brothers John and George Rate, and rebuilt in 1837 in the rich agricultural country that once made East Lothian the “garden of Scotland”. It has worked quietly ever since, and is now the closest distillery to the capital — the natural first stop for whisky-minded visitors to Edinburgh.

The water & the land

Although named after the Kinchie Burn that runs past it, Glenkinchie draws its process water from reservoirs and burns in the Lammermuir Hills to the south. Its light, clean style suits the surrounding barley country.

Glenkinchie has no Highland clan link. The name “Kinchie” is itself a corruption of “de Quincy” — the de Quincey family, the medieval Anglo-Norman lords who once held this land — so the distillery’s name preserves a fragment of Lowland feudal history rather than a clan one.

Visiting

Glenkinchie has a good visitor centre and runs tours, tastings and flavour experiences — book ahead. It generally opens Tuesday to Saturday (daily in peak season), around 10–5/6; check the website. Its closeness to Edinburgh makes it an easy half-day trip from the city.

Nearby & more whisky

• The other classic Lowland malt: Auchentoshan
• Lowland — the region overview
• The whole picture: Scotch whisky — regions, distilleries & the oldest of all

Sources

• Glenkinchie distillery — Wikipedia.
• Diageo / Malts.com; Scotchwhisky.com Whiskypedia.