Edinburgh distilling is alive again with a new London Dry Gin that pushes lime and pepper notes to center stage.
The Port of Leith Distillery was founded in 2017 by friends Ian Stirling and Patrick Fletcher. They have set their sight aggressively — hoping to bring Single Malt production back to Edinburgh. They have secured a location across from the Royal Yacht Britannia at the Port of Leith to do just that. When completed, it will be the first purpose-built Single Malt Distillery in the city in more than a hundred years. In the meantime they are distilling nearby in the Tower Street Stillhouse, experimenting with new yeast stains, and producing Gin and a unique distilled Sherry.
Lind & Lime was designed to be the very definition of London Dry style. In that vein, they keep it simple. Neutral Spirit is redistilled in-house to infuse seven botanicals. The core of the recipe is juniper, lime, pink peppercorn that shape the character of the Spirit. The rest of the recipe is a secret, but we detect cardamom and anise root, but that’s just us. The final Spirit is bottled in a lovely, Champagne-like decanter at 44% ABV.
Smartass Corner:
Lind & Lime Gin is named after Dr. James Lind — a local Edinburgh hero. He discovered that sailors suffering from scurvy improved when they ate citrus fruits. British sailors from then on where provisioned limes and lime-infused beverages to fight off the disease. And it’s how the British acquired the somewhat unflattering nickname "limey."