Inside 3 new Scot distilleries: Port of Leith, Ardnamurchan and Holyrood

There have been 20 new distilleries opened across Scotland in the past 15 years - two in Edinburgh, Port of Leith and Holyrood, being the first to operate in the capital since 1925. Geoffrey Dean headed up to meet them and find out what makes them unique then heads out to the West Highlands to visit Ardnamurchan, a distillery which is fast gaining national and international notoriety.

15th October 2025 by Geoffrey Dean

Since 2010, more than 20 new whisky distilleries have been launched across Scotland, from the Highlands and Islands, including Islay and Raasay, to Speyside, the Lowlands and Edinburgh. The latter’s new pair, Port of Leith and Holyrood, were the first to operate in the Scottish capital since 1925.

Award-winning Ardnamurchan

More on them later, but first a distillery whose graph has enjoyed nothing but an upward curve since it opened in 2014: Ardnamurchan, on the ruggedly beautiful peninsula of the same name to the west of Fort William. Awards have not stopped coming Ardnamurchan’s way since it released its first single malt in 2020. For three successive years - 2021, 2022 and 2023 - it was voted ‘Best New Distillery’ in the Online Scottish Whisky Awards. This hat-trick of gongs was followed by another in 2024 when it was adjudged ‘Global Sustainable Distillery of the World’ in the Icons of Whiskies' World Whiskies awards.

Unusually, all the power and heat requirements for the distillery come from local renewables. The river that provides the distillery’s cooling water has a hydro-electricity generator, solar panels provide energy and the biomass boiler is fuelled by wood chip from local forestry. In addition, the by-products of the whisky-making process are recycled on the peninsula, notably the energy-rich draff (the leftovers in the mash tun), which is mixed with the pot ale to produce animal feed.

Indeed, the overall footprint of the distillery is suitably environmentally benign for such a remote and isolated part of Scotland, where the nearby lighthouse that dates back to 1849 is situated on the westernmost extension of the British mainland. In a nod to the distillery’s location, the lighthouse’s coordinates are subtly engraved on the lighthouse logo that is on every label of its various whiskies.

And what a characterful range of whiskies Ardnamurchan has produced since Princess Anne was invited to open the distillery and draw the first bottle of spirit eleven years ago. She is pictured in the visitor centre, as are the likes of Alex Ferguson and Ian Botham, who have made the pilgrimage to the peninsula to buy Ardnamurchan’s whiskies. These are single malts with pronounced earthiness, as well as fruity notes, honey and salinity.

Maturation is in as many as 15 different types of casks, including bourbon, sherry, sauternes, Tokaj, port, champagne, rum and tequila. Of the typical annual production of of 360,000 litres of alcohol, half are peated and half non-peated. The former see 30ppm of phenols, although a few select casks are heavily peated to 80ppm (and held back for later release). The milder maritime temperatures of Ardnamurchan (which translates as the “Headland of the Great Seas” in Scottish Gaelic) encourages quicker maturation, blessed by the rugged west coast air, in the view of distillery manager, Gordon Mackenzie.

“It gives our whisky a certain element that cannot be replicated elsewhere,” Mackenzie told me on a visit to the distillery in August. “Our wet weather and maritime climate suits maturation.” Mackenzie, a former boat builder and bus driver from Mallaig, came to the whisky industry late but has cultivated an excellent reputation as the head of production (Ardnamurchan never having appointed a master distiller).

“Our barley comes from two different areas in Scotland - Fife, where the family of our MD Alex Bruce has a farm, and Inverness,” he continued. “We have a malting floor but we’ve never used it as it’s not finished yet. We benefit from very pure water, which is peaty as it comes through the hills. We have seven warehouses at present with two more planned. We have just over 18,000 casks holding 2.2 million litres of alcohol. So we’re small compared to the big guys. Whereas everyone else is amping up production, we’re just keeping steady. We don’t make an a big noise because we don't have an awful lot of stock. We have a good sales team that look after customers.”

The word, though, about Ardnamurchan’s quality has spread around the world, notably Japan where it has established a strong following. Other overseas markets include Germany, France, Netherlands, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Uruguay. Direct-to-consumer sales are booming with annual visitors to the distillery typically numbering just over 8,000, although in 2024, that reached a record 9,500.

“I didn’t believe there was a distillery being built here till I saw the diggers going in,” Mackenzie mused. “It’s been great for the community. It brings in lots of visitors and is a good employer - there are 14 of us here. We got a £1.7m grant towards construction from the EU in 2014, which was lucky timing as we wouldn't get that now.”

One key construction decision was regarding the washbacks. The debate over whether wooden or stainless steel washbacks are best has long raged, so a decision was taken to build both – four from wood (a brace apiece of oak and Oregon pine) and three from stainless steel.

“Hopefully they will last for ever,” Mackenzie said. “It was £44,000 for the second Oregon pine one just done. They built it here, with the size determined by the width of the bridge at Acharacle, ten miles or so the east. It was pre-cut as they knew the measurements.”

Edinburgh’s Port of Leith

A little younger than Ardnamurchan are the two new Edinburgh distilleries: Port of Leith and Holyrood. The former is not just the UK’s first vertical distillery but also the tallest in the world at 40m, with its nine storeys soaring over Leith’s historic port and the decommissioned Royal Yacht Britannia. You get a great view of it from the top floor bar, which has an extensive list of whiskies from around the world and some fine cuisine. The £14 million brainchild of two boyhood friends –Ian Stirling and Paddy Fletcher, who are joint CEOs – construction started during Covid with the distillery opening in October 2023.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the distillery has its own water source, an aquifer beneath it. Its washbacks are stainless steel, which were lowered into place with the rest of the building built over them. As such, they are the only suspended washbacks in the world. As for Port of Leith’s barley, all of it comes from a farm a few miles east of Edinburgh, which is taken to maltings in Alloa, just west of the capital. From there, it is delivered to the distillery, making the 90-mile round trip from farm to its stills one of the shortest of any distillery in the UK. The crop for the distillery’s first single malt came from 2022, which enjoyed ideal growing conditions.

Holyrood Distillery in Edinburgh

Holyrood Distillery opened a little earlier than Port of Leith (in 2019) in the centre of Edinburgh’s historic old town. Calum Rae, the distillery manager, stresses Holyrood’s innovative approach to distilling, inspired by the rich brewing history of the city that, at one point, had as many as 40 breweries.

“We put just as much emphasis on the malt and the yeast as we do on the cask selection,” he said, “as we believe all three of these aspects contribute to creating unique and exciting flavour. Casks will always play a large part, but we believe that heritage barley, specialty malts, brewer’s and specialty yeasts are our building blocks of flavour.”

Like Achnamurchan, Holyrood has not taken long to win plaudits. Earlier this year, it was voted the Icons of Whisky’s ‘Distiller of the Year’ at the World Whiskies Awards. Throw in Port of Leith, and you have a triumvirate of youthful distilleries that are producing outstanding spirit