【Exclusive Interview】Part 1: Ian Stirling – Port of Leith Distillery

At the port of Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh, a newly constructed 40m building showcases a modern take on whisky production. Port of Leith Distillery is the worlds’ first vertical distillery, which opened in 2016. With thoughtful marketing and branding skills, this distillery has flourished in worldwide popularity even before releasing its single malt. Captivating people with its unique story and location, Port of Leith Distillery relentlessly improves its products by experimenting with local youth talents.

Exclusively interviewing Ian Stirling, co-owner and co-founder of the Port of Leith Distillery, this two-part article reveals the back story of the construction and establishment of the distillery and its philosophy. Part 1 of this article consists of the introduction of two founders of the Port of Leith Distillery followed by a unique life story of how their close friendship developed into the establishment of the whisky distillery.

The Basic Information of the Port of Leith Distillery

Company’s Name	Port of Leith Distillery
Year of Establishment	2021
Owner	Muckle Brig (Parent company owned by Ian Stirling and Patrick Fletcher)
Location	11 Whisky Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6FH.
Official Website	Port of Leith Distillery

Origin of the Port of Leith Distillery

Who is Ian Stirling?

Dear WHISKY：
Could you introduce yourself?

Ian：
My name is Ian Stirling, and I am a co-founder and co-CEO of a company in Scotland called Muckle Brig. We have three different brands in this company; we have the Port of Leith Distillery, which is a whisky distillery; we have the Lind & Lime Distillery, which is a gin distillery; and we have Leith Export company, which is a wine and spirits distributor. I established those companies with my lifelong friend, Paddy, Patrick Fletcher. 

Relationship with Paddy

Dear WHISKY：
How long have you known Patrick?

Ian：
We’re both from Edinburgh, and we went to the same school from the age of 5 until we were 18. So we have known each other for a very long time, and we went to a different university but somehow ended up living together in London. Then, I was in the wine industry, and he’d gone into Finance to become an accountant.

Dear WHISKY：
What exactly were you two doing working in two completely different industries?

Ian：
With my wine work, I was learning how to create alcohol or brands and sell them to different countries or supermarkets in the UK, and Paddy was working for tech start-ups. He was learning how to run a business and do all the finances for a business. Hence, our skills were complementary, and we thought we could start a business together.

Dear WHISKY：
Why did you get into the alcoholic beverage industry?

Ian：
Fresh out of university, I started my career in publicity for show businesses. Then, I decided it wasn’t right for me and went into the wine industry instead. I started off working in a wine shop in London. Around then, I started studying for my wine qualifications in the UK. We have WSET, the UK wine and spirit education trust, and I began working through those.

Dear WHISKY：
How did you get into whisky?

Ian：
In my 20s, I was living with my friend and business partner Paddy, and we became increasingly interested in whisky. We began by buying a bottle of whisky for the house to drink and discuss. Then we started to go to a tasting or the famous whisky shop in London like Milroy’s. Eventually, we got very interested, and we bought ourselves a small still from Portugal to start having a go at making whisky ourselves. That’s where the whole journey began for us. This was ten years ago, experimenting with whisky production in our back garden, and then started to dream about building a distillery to proceed with this on a larger scale.

Seeing whisky from a wine maker’s perspective

Dear WHISKY：
How did you learn about whisky production?

Ian：
We really had to do a lot of research online and buy books from someone in America because they had more of a tradition for making whisky in your garden. We were piecing together the information that we could gather around the place. As someone from the wine world, I was always struck by how different it was, even though it was all alcohol.

Dear WHISKY：
What is the most prominent difference you saw between the whisky and the wine world?

Ian：
In the wine world, the approach was a lot more, in a sense, artistic in many ways. They would talk about providence and the importance of the land or the climate , whereas whisky, the conversation was a lot more industrial. It was a lot more about efficiency and science. Therefore, I wanted to bring some elements of the wine world to the whisky world because I thought there were opportunities there. However, in terms of making whisky, we knew very little, just trying to find every information we could from different sources to learn.

Dear WHISKY：
How exactly did you two learn about whisky production?

Ian：
We self-taught ourselves because we didn’t have anyone teaching us. Well, one thing must be said: when we thought, “Let’s build a whisky distillery,” we never thought we would make the whisky ourselves. We felt we would find proper distillers who knew everything. However, at that time, in the garden, we started to have this unique idea about whisky making. Because we were two people obsessed with whisky, we went to countless tastings and tours, and everyone was always talking about distillation. However, we thought that bit was the easy bit, and the complicated bit we found was the fermentation.

Finding a business opportunity in whisky production

Dear WHISKY：
What about the traditional whisky production that caught your attention?

Ian：
We realized how underappreciated the fermentation step was in the whisky world. First, you have to not quite make a beer but almost make a beer when you’re making whisky. When we were researching, we focused on “what yeast did we use”, “at what temperature”, or “for how long do we ferment?”As two whisky enthusiasts ourselves, we noticed that none of the whisky distilleries talk about this bit of the production.

Dear WHISKY：
What did the whisky industry focus on rather than fermentation?

Ian：
They all talk about distillation, water, and barrels but not so much about fermentation . As we researched more, we learned that almost all whisky distilleries in Scotland used one specific type of yeast called “distillers yeast.” This yeast is very focused on efficiently producing alcohol. We knew there was an opportunity to operate things differently with this bit of the production process.

Dear WHISKY：
Why did you see this as an opportunity?

Ian：
If you go back 50 or 60 years, whisky distilleries in Scotland weren’t using distiller yeast at all. They used the same yeasts the local breweries used to make beer. Therefore, we thought there were probably opportunities for more exciting flavours and higher quality whisky because distillers yeast is all about efficiency and not flavour. That’s where the idea of “if we can make our whisky, we could do something interesting here” came from. Then, we actually reached out to Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh for assistance. There’s a vast world of opportunity to research different yeast and look at the flavours you might be able to create with those, so that got going in that process.

Dear WHISKY：
How exactly did that idea motivate you to go as far as building a distillery of your own?

Ian：
There were two bits to this opportunity: the potential of fermentation and the absence of a distillery in Edinburgh. Firstly, we were going to focus on fermentation and look for new and interesting opportunities for flavour. Secondly, we planned to build a distillery in Scotland’s capital city and hopefully have lots of visitors to help fund the whisky production while it makes no profit.

Establishment of the Distillery

Starting up a brand new distillery

Dear WHISKY：
What was the establishment process of the Port of Leith Distillery like? 

Ian：
Starting a Scotch whisky distillery is very difficult because you initially need a huge amount of money to build it. On top of that, you need a lot of money to actually start producing whisky because you can’t sell anything for the first three years at least. Therefore, you certainly need another revenue stream, and that’s why we have looked for a suitable location in Edinburgh for a long. The perfect location where we might be able to get lots of revenue from the tourists and visitors, so then, ultimately, it could pay for the initial cost of whisky production.

Why building in Leith: Port of Edinburgh

Dear WHISKY：
Why did you choose Leith as a place to build the distillery?

Ian：
We obviously wanted it to be in Edinburgh, and when we looked at Edinburgh, it actually had a long history of brewing and distilling, although there were no distilleries at the time. The more we research, the more we realize that Leith, which is the port of Edinburgh, once had a huge amount of whisky heritage.

Dear WHISKY：
What was Leith like at that time?

Ian：
Back then, Leith was the centre of Scottish whisky production because it was the only place in Scotland with a royal warrant, the license to store at tax-free warehouses. Hence, all the whisky producers of Scotland were sending their whisky to Leith for maturation. This incredible history in Leith made us think, “How great would it be to bring back whisky production to that heritage.”

Dear WHISKY：
Why did you eye on Leith to begin with?

Ian：
We wanted to build a brand new modern-style building, and Leith was one of the few areas in Edinburgh where you could do that. Old brownfield sites were where you could find a site that might be able to get the planning consent and the permission to build a whisky distillery. So it was the Heritage piece and the opportunity in Edinburgh, a beautiful old city and a UNESCO world heritage site. You can’t build a whisky distillery in the centre of Edinburgh, but you might be able to build one in the old industrial area of Leith. So that was the plan for us.

Iconic Vertical Distillery

Shifting the production process vertically

Dear WHISKY：
Why did you choose vertical distillery?

Ian：
It was not our choice; we just happened to find this place we really liked, which turned out to be too small to build a regular distillery. We never said that we wanted to build a vertical distillery. However, we always wanted to make a very modern piece of architecture representing that we are a new company with a new idea.

Dear WHISKY：
What are the merits of having a vertical production process?

Ian：
In terms of the production process, there are some advantages, such as dealing with vapours and CO2 in a natural direction , and gravity could help some processes as well. However, a key advantage would be its ability to be wedged into a city, where you could have better access to utilities for gas, water, and everything. It actually is a lot more environmentally friendly to be in the city as you are closer to your supply chain, such as container ports. Therefore, I wouldn’t particularly say having a vertical distillery would make a better whisky, but its practicality and environmental sustainability are outstanding.

Dear WHISKY：
What are some hardships of having a vertical distillery?

Ian：
The construction process was our first challenge. As a building with hundreds of people moving around and containing large vessels with 10,000-liter liquid inside, building it right next to the sea where strong winds constantly hit was really difficult. From a structural engineering perspective, designing such a building dealing with a number of destabilizing factors was complicated.

At Last

Part 1 of this article presented Ian’s career paths and relationship with Paddy and ultimately revealed how their close friendship embodies the allure of the Port of Leith Distillery. By seeking opportunities in the fermentation, Port of Leith is bringing new aspects of quality to whisky production. As one of the very few distilleries in Edinburgh, Port of Leith also aims to revive the heritage of whisky making to the Leith area through the creation of modern and exceptional whiskies.