Port of Leith

The classic London Dry Gin Lind & Lime has been produced in the historic Leith distillery district since 2018. It features a balance of juniper, lime and spicy pink pepper. Other botanicals include angelica and orris root, liquorice and coriander seeds.

The name is taken from the ship's doctor Dr James Lind, born in Edinburgh in 1716, who discovered a remedy for scurvy. For this, limes were used, which today are also a main ingredient of Lind & Lime Gin.

The shape of the bottle is based on a wine bottle, a tribute to Leith's past as an important centre of glass production.

Lind & Lime Gin places great emphasis on sustainability. In addition to the 100% organically grown ingredients, the company produces with green electricity and the packaging of the bottle is plastic-free.

The Gin is distilled on a 'Genio Still' with a capacity of 500 litres. This high-tech still allows precise control of temperature and distillation speed via a central computer. The production time for a batch then takes about four days. Neutral grain alcohol from Switzerland with an alcohol content of 96 percent is used. Together with water, all the botanicals except the limes are then added before the mixture macerates at low heat for 24 hours. The lime peels are added the next day and the liquid distils for another day. Once the distillate is ready, it comes out of the still with an alcohol content of about 80 percent and into a tank. There, the Gin is diluted with filtered water to a drinking strength of 44 percent and rests for 48 hours. Only after this resting period it goes on to bottling and then to labelling the bottles by hand.

Friends Paddy Fletcher and Ian Stirling grew up together in Edinburgh before sharing a flat in London and developing a shared passion for Whisky. While they took different career paths (Paddy an accountant and Ian a wine merchant), the dream of having their own distillery in their hometown was never forgotten. In 2014, they set up their own company, Muckle Brig, to raise the money with investors in order to build the Port of Leith distillery. Meanwhile, in 2016, the friends partnered with the International Centre for Brewing & Distilling at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh to create a special Whisky.

To provide additional funding for their Whisky project, Muckle Brig launched the Lind & Lime Gin in 2017. However, it still took almost two years of preparation and development before the first Gin was also produced.

In 2020, construction of the Port of Leith distillery could finally begin. In early January 2021, the substructure and foundations were completed. Work then began on the steel structure before the façade was started in early 2022.