Port of Leith Distillery Tour with Co-Founder Ian Stirling
When the opportunity came to record this episode at a working distillery with the co-founder, we jumped on the tram to Leith.
Port of Leith Distillery sits on the Firth of Forth shoreline, just a short walk from the Ocean Terminal tram stop.
The building doesn’t look like your typical distillery. Standing tall as part of the Leith shore and skyline.
Port of Leith is only the second vertical distillery in the world, Mackmyra Distillery in Sweden being the other one.
Co-Founder Ian Stirling welcomed us into the boardroom on the 6th floor with some incredible views overlooking the Kingdom of Fife across the Forth.
We sat down with a Table Whisky Highball each and got into hearing Ian’s story which led to him owning and running his own distillery.
Distilling in the back garden
When a couple of pals start getting into whisky, not many will decide to source their own stills and start distilling in their back garden.
But that’s exactly what Ian Stirling and Paddy Fletcher did in London back in the mid 2000’s.
Ian’s desire to move back to Edinburgh, combined with the fact that there was no working distillery in the Scottish capital at the time, sparked the idea.
What started as a simple thought soon became a long and challenging journey to bring a new distillery to life.
One thing’s for sure—it takes a huge amount of time and money to build and run a distillery.
Ian shared the long and complex journey they went through to secure investment and resources.
What started as a simple back garden setup gradually evolved into the ambitious vision of a nine-story distillery.
If you build it, they will come
As I mentioned above, building and operating a distillery is an expensive business.
Ian explained to us that it was always the ambition to have the distillery operating as a visitor centre as well as producing whisky.
Leith isn’t just steeped in whisky history—it’s now more connected than ever to Edinburgh, thanks to the new tramline. With attractions like the Royal Yacht Britannia drawing over 300,000 visitors a year, it’s a thriving destination.
With three working distilleries, the Scotch Whisky Experience, and The Johnnie Walker Experience, Edinburgh is quickly establishing itself as a whisky destination.
AddGlenkinchie Distillery—proudly calling itself “The Edinburgh Malt“—and there’s no shortage of whisky to explore in and around the city, without venturing north or to Islay.
Ian and Paddy recognised this opportunity and, with the right business model and backing, saw the potential to create a distillery that not only produced whisky but also thrived as a visitor destination.
“We’ve got this opportunity to become one of the most visited distilleries in Scotland”
Ian explains that while tourism sustains the distillery, it will eventually peak. However, the opportunities in whisky are limitless.
Our first distillery tour
As a vertical distillery, each stage of production takes place on a different level of the building.
The process begins with milling on the 4th floor, and as whisky-making progresses, it moves downward, level by level, until reaching the spirit safe on the ground floor.
Ian shared that sustainability and provenance are key focuses for the distillery, influencing their decision to use barley grown on their own farm in East Lothian.
The barley is then sent to a maltings in Alloa before being delivered to the distillery—a short 90-mile round trip, making it one of the most locally sourced operations in Scotland.
The distillery has just one mash tun which can produce up to 400,000 litres of alcohol which can equate to up to 1 million bottles a year.
Ian highlighted that a key factor in shaping distillery character and creating diverse flavor profiles—using just three ingredients—lies in fermentation, particularly the selection of yeast and barley strains.
Port of Leith are experimenting with different yeast strains, how long each yeast strain requires in fermentation and what that does to the distillery character.
“The key thing for us is we definitely put flavour quality over efficiency”
Unapologetically modern
Distilling and making whisky is something we have done in this country for centuries. Port of Leith is an example of mixing the old ways with new and modern facilities and techniques.
“We never set out to build a vertical distillery but we definitely set out to build a modern piece of architecture.”
The stills have windows that provide a clear view of the distillation process—not just a great feature for tourists and whisky enthusiasts, but also a practical tool for distillery staff to monitor, adjust temperatures, and control pressure as needed.
Even the spirit safe defies tradition. Designed by the Operations Manager at the time, with glass crafted and installed by one of the distillers, it’s a unique creation.
It perfectly reflects the distillery itself—modern, unconventional, and homemade, echoing Ian and Paddy’s humble beginnings in their back garden.
Back up to the Bar
We were back up to the 9th floor which is the top floor to check out the bar.
Friend of the pod Simon Smith talked about his role in curating the back bar in the distillery when it first opened.
His emphasis was on the importance of showcasing young whisky from a distillery who would be championing young whisky for at least the next 10-15 years.
“It’s a long time until we’re going to have our single malt ready, so for the time being, this is the sweetie shop.”
The back bar hosts a whole load of fantastic whisky with bottles from local independent bottlers and even some bottles from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.
A great way to get involved with Port of Leith Distillery is by joining their Quality Control Division, where members can sample cask samples as the spirit matures into whisky.
Members receive tasting packs and exclusive event invites throughout the year, keeping them connected to the distillery’s journey
Ian Stirling’s What3Drams:
Black Bush
The first whisky that Ian was gifted as a young man and made him which triggered him to drink whisky for the first time.
Aberfeldy finished in a Trockenbeerenauslese cask
Ian isn’t even sure that it was an Aberfeldy, but this was a whisky that he tried at a tasting in Milroy’s of Soho.
This was the moment, that he realised the full complexity of what’s possible with whisky.
Bruichladdich The Classic Laddie
Ian and Paddy took their first business plan to Mark Reynier – the man who re-established Bruichladdich.
Mark went on to tear their business plan to shreds, but in the end agreed that they may well be on to something. And from there, they used Bruichladdich as a distillery who have similar new wave values as the Port of Leith Distillery.
Watch the full episode on our YouTube Channel
