Glenkinchie

Itinerary

08:17 – 08:58: Bus (East Coast X7: Dunbar): Edinburgh Waterloo Place – Haddington (Corn Exchange)
09:30 – 09:46: Bus (East Coast 123: Glenkinchie): Haddington (Police Station) – Glenkinchie Distillery
10:00 – 12:00: Tour: Glenkinchie Flavour & Cask Experience
12:46 – 13:10: Bus (East Coast 123: Haddington): Glenkinchie Distillery – Haddington (High Street)
13:15 – 14:00: Pint Railway Inn
14:04 – 14:46: Bus (East Coast X7: Edinburgh): Haddington (Police Station) – Edinburgh (Waterloo Place)

Getting to Glenkinchie Distillery by Public Transport

The distillery sits in East Lothian, just 16 miles from Edinburgh, and it’s surprisingly easy to reach without a car thanks to solid bus links from the city centre. I took the X7 East Coast Bus to Haddington, then connected onto the No 123. Another option is the 113 to Pencaitland, followed by either a walk or a connection onto the 123. I chose the Haddington route because the connection times suited me better, but also because  Haddington has plenty of cafés and bars, which are ideal if you have time to spare between buses.

The X7 took about 45 minutes on a quiet Saturday morning. The bus had charging points and a display screen showing upcoming stops, which made the journey easy to follow. I’d never visited Haddington before, and it turned out to be a lovely little town. The High Street is dotted with cafés, and I even spotted a local running group heading out on an early morning jog.

I had just under 30 minutes before my connection, so I wandered around briefly (considered a tea, but time was tight). The 123 arrived more or less on time. One thing to note: you catch it on the side of the road heading back toward Edinburgh, which is the opposite side from where you get off the X7.

The 123 doesn’t take long to reach the distillery. It passes through Pencaitland, a small rural village, before turning into Glenkinchie itself. The bus drops you almost at the entrance at the top of some stairs leading down to the site. When I visited, the stairs were under repair, so I followed the road around instead.

Facilities

The entrance is impressive: a large garden area and a striking two-storey building with a glass-fronted upper level housing the bar and restaurant. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by name great service, though admittedly helped by the fact that there were only three of us on the tour. After check-in, I had five minutes to browse the shop. It’s similar in style to other Diageo visitor centres, with branded merchandise and the full Glenkinchie range. The “fill your own” option during my visit was a 12-year-old red wine cask expression.

The Flavour and Cask Tour

I booked the Flavour and Cask Tour, which is one of the more premium options. It lasts around two hours and includes a tasting of six whiskies, one drawn straight from a cask. The tour begins with the history of the site, both the old farm and the story of Johnnie Walker, who purchased the distillery in 1894.

One of the highlights came early: a full-length scale model of the entire distillery and whisky-making process. Apparently, it’s functional and capable of producing whisky. I would advise spending some time looking at the details, which include a tiny kiln and worm tubs. The model would be ideal for a serious whisky enthusiast, although you would need a big house to display it.

The production tour itself lasts about an hour and is very informative. The guides clearly explain each decision point in the process and how it affects flavour. You don’t visit the warehouse, but you do get a cask sample.

At the penultimate stop, there’s a room with four casks, and you choose one to sample. Options included two Glenkinchie expressions, a Caol Ila Distillery, and a Cameronbridge Distillery single grain. Drawing whisky straight from the cask yourself is a great touch, and you can fill a small jug, which is then poured into your Glencairn glass. Whisky does not get much fresher than that (though I’d suggest saving tasting it until the end of your tasting!).

Tasting

The tasting room sits beside the bar/restaurant, overlooking the front entrance. It’s a lovely setting, and most of the whiskies were Glenkinchie, which I appreciated, as some Diageo tours lean heavily on other distilleries.

The line-up included:

• 12 Year Old
• Distillers Edition
• Distillery Exclusive
• Fill Your Own
• 18-Year-Old Johnnie Walker

Before this, I’d only really tried the 12-year-old, which hadn’t been a standout Lowland malt for me. But the Distillers Edition and Distillery Exclusive really impressed and were my top drams on the day. The fill-your-own was enjoyable but leaned a bit sweet for my taste, as wine cask finishes often do. My best value-to-flavour pick was the Distillers Edition, double-matured in Amontillado and American oak casks, with a great balance of vanilla oak and spicy sherry notes.

However, I would say that the best dram of the day came later in the shop, when the tour guide John let me try the 11-year-old Sweet Peat Lagavulin Distillery, which was absolutely outstanding, but sadly sold out. I hear that the price of a bottle is pretty reasonable, so I will be looking for it when I visit Islay later in the year. I did pick up a bottle of the distiller’s edition for my collection at the end of the tour, and you do get a decent 10% discount on the bottles in the shop.

After the tour, I got the 123 bus back to Haddington, and from there, the X7 buses are quite regular to Edinburgh, so I decided to spend a little extra time and get a pint in town. I had passed the railway on my way into the town, and it looked nice, so I decided to catch a pint there, and I was surprised by how busy it was inside. It has a small bar area at the front, and then there is a larger area at the back, which looks like more of a restaurant section. I stayed in the small bar area, where they had a couple of TVs showing sports. This might have been why it was so busy as Scotland were playing Italy in the Six Nations later that afternoon.

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