Six weeks of hammering comes to and end and WHAM, there goes the roof of the Glenkinchie distillery

Posted on March 8, 2008
Filed Under Lowlands, Whisky Fun, WhiskyBuzz |

GLENKINCHIE’S NEW STILL MAKES A DRAMATIC ENTRANCE

If you’re a fan of the “Edinburgh Malt”…Glenkinchie. They you will be happy to know that you will be able to enjoy the Lowland malt also in the future.

After six weeks of hammering an exact replica of its predecessors a new copper still was yesterday carefully lowered through the roof of Glenkinchie Distillery in East Lothian.

Copper stills typically have a lifespan of 10-15 years depending on the process and type of spirit made in them.

The craftsmanship behind the creation of the stills is akin to sculpture work, according to Charles King, Operations Manager of Diageo’s Abercrombie coppersmiths.

Mr King, who heads up 25 coppersmiths including six apprentices, said his team take huge pride in what they do. “The stills play a very important role in the flavour of our whisky and we put a great deal of time and effort into ensuring every replacement still is as near identical to its predecessor as possible. Even tiny changes in the angle of the lye pipe through which the vaporized spirit leaves the still can impact on flavour.”

If you wanna find out more on how the stills were made Brian Westcott, writer of Brian’s Beer Blog, got a great post on how to make one of those stills.