The Edinburgh & Forth Whisky Trail: Glenkinchie, Leith & the Reborn Rosebank
The trail at a glance
| Distance | ~50 miles end to end (Glenkinchie to Falkirk), most of it a short hop within the city |
| Time | A long day for Edinburgh and Leith; add a second day for Falkirk and the Kelpies |
| Distilleries | 6 — Glenkinchie, Holyrood, Port of Leith, Bonnington, Rosebank and Falkirk |
| Open to visit | All but Bonnington (by arrangement) welcome visitors; book the tours |
| Start / end | Glenkinchie in East Lothian, finishing at Falkirk |
| Our take | Leave the car at your hotel for the three city distilleries — they are a short bus or taxi hop apart |
Edinburgh has become a whisky city again. The Lowlands now has a string of new and revived names around the Forth, and you can taste your way from a Victorian railway goods shed to a nine-storey tower on the Leith docks in an afternoon. This trail runs from the old Lowland classic at Glenkinchie, through the city, and out along the Forth to the reborn Rosebank at Falkirk.
Base 1 — East Lothian: the Edinburgh malt
Glenkinchie, among the barley fields near Pencaitland and about 15 miles from Edinburgh, is often called “the Edinburgh malt”: a gentle, grassy, lightly floral Lowland whisky made in handsome Victorian buildings, and the Lowland representative in Diageo’s Classic Malts. It runs tours, tastings and flavour experiences (booking advised, closed some weekdays outside peak season). It pairs easily with the East Lothian coast — North Berwick, Tantallon Castle and Dunbar — if you have the time.
Base 2 — Edinburgh & Leith: three new distilleries
Holyrood is the one to start with — opened in 2019 in a restored Victorian railway goods shed near Holyrood Park, the first single-malt distillery in central Edinburgh for almost a century. It is playfully experimental with yeasts, malts and grains, and runs daily whisky and gin tours. A short hop north to the docks, Port of Leith is the UK’s first “vertical” distillery — a nine-storey tower, opened in 2023, with a rooftop bar looking out over the Firth of Forth — and runs whisky and gin tours. One mile on, Bonnington revives the old Crabbie’s name (the firm dates to 1801); it began production in 2020 and released its first single malt in 2024, with visits by arrangement.
| Glenkinchie → Holyrood | about 15 mi | ~26 min |
| Holyrood → Port of Leith | about 4 mi | ~15 min |
| Port of Leith → Bonnington | about 1 mi | ~5 min |
Road distances and drive times from OpenStreetMap routing (a guide — allow for traffic, single-track roads and ferries).
Base 3 — Over the Forth to Falkirk
West from the city, Rosebank was long mourned as the finest Lowland malt of all — a delicate, floral, triple-distilled classic beside the Forth & Clyde Canal at Camelon, silenced in 1993. Ian Macleod Distillers rebuilt it and reopened it in 2023, and it now runs booked tours. A few minutes away, Falkirk Distillery is a family-run newcomer (production since 2020, tours from 2025). Make a day of it with the Kelpies, the giant horse-head sculptures, and the ancient burgh of Linlithgow.
| Bonnington → Rosebank | about 27 mi | ~46 min |
| Rosebank → Falkirk Distillery | about 4 mi | ~9 min |
Road distances and drive times from OpenStreetMap routing (a guide — allow for traffic, single-track roads and ferries).
Overnights, food & the practical bit
Stay in Edinburgh itself for Base 2 and you need no car. For a motorhome, Edinburgh is awkward — look to East Lothian or the Forth Valley for overnights. Book Holyrood, Port of Leith and Rosebank ahead at weekends, and keep a sober driver for Glenkinchie and Falkirk.
More whisky
- The full picture: Scotch whisky — regions, distilleries & the oldest of all.
- Neighbouring trails: Glasgow & the Clyde and Fife, both an hour or so away.
- The city itself: Edinburgh.