The never-ending story from the Port of Leith

The Port of Leith is a remarkable new distillery built right on the harborfront in Leith, a district of Edinburgh. The uniqueness of the distillery lies in the fact that a distillery was erected on a relatively small area in a storied layout, with the mash vat on the top floor, the fermentation vats below, the alembic hall located even lower, etc.

The port district of Leith was famous in its time for having a number of warehouses operating there, run by liquor dealers, some of whom were also involved in buying and packaging whiskey for resale. It seems that for a new distillery from Leith, a blended whisky, blended whisky is the natural choice, and this is what the distillers at Port of Leith Distillery, a vertical distillery, have decided to bet on.

Perpetuity blended Scotch whisky is a beverage inspired by the legend of the cooper from Leith, Henry Douglas, who, as a result of his greed and dishonesty, condemned himself, so to speak, to a truly Sisyphean job - eternally assembling one and the same cask. Henry Douglas' endless work is like endless whiskey, a kind of horn of plenty.

To compile Perpetuity the contents of two malt whisky casks and two grain whisky casks were used. Thanks to the rare transparency of the Leith Export Company, owner of the brand, we can take a close look at the composition of the new whisky. Thus, the blend used a fist-fill oloroso sherry hogseahd barrel filled with 6-year-old Glentauchers (21.9% of the total), and an ex-bourbon ASB barrel filled with 9-year-old Deanston (23.9%). Grain ingredients include an ex-bourbon ASB cask filled with 13-year-old North British (22.2%) and a virgin oak ASB cask in which grain whisky, also from the North British distillery, was aged for 7 years (32%).

Why the infinity mentioned in the name? Well, only half of the whisky obtained by the blending of the aforementioned distillates was bottled. In accordance with the tradition of Leith merchants, the vat, which is half emptied, will be replenished with the contents of more barrels. Second batch Perpetuity, announced for next year, so it will have a different composition and a different character, and the contents of a kind of vat of abundance will be supplemented with the contents of more barrels. And so on.

In the manner described above, the first batch of Perpetuity, liquor with a strength of 45.7% vol., of which 1,430 bottles have been prepared with a retail price of £38.50. Whisky yes is supposed to offer caramelized apple cider, English sauce, Danish butter cookies and sandalwood in its aroma. In taste, we can expect notes of crème brûlée, lemon sorbet, toffee and orange marmalade.

Manufacturer did not provide information on caramel coloring or cold-filtering of inaugural batch Perpetuity.


[14.02.2023 / Photo: The Leith Export Co]