Christmas cheers

A tour round Glenkinchie Distillery today for the male members of the extended family. A Christmas gift that, for many reasons, didn't quite get it together until today.

Founded in 1825 the distillery lies two miles south of Pencaitland in East Lothian it was originally called the Milton distillery but renamed in 1837 as Glenkinchie derived from the original owners of the land, the de Quincey family. I suppose that's as close as the locals could get to French pronunciation in those days, perhaps even these days too. It was rebuilt in the 1890s as the model Victorian distillery village complete with houses for the workers and even a bowling green. Today it is just one of only two Lowland distilleries left, producing 340,000 gallons of spirit annually.

The highlight of the tour was of course the tasting of the whisky, which is why the photograph is slightly blurred.