CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
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We want to keep The Engine Shed building for community use and social good, and have made a bid to Edinburgh Council to take on the lease.
Under a new name, St Leonard’s Yard, we are planning a local food hub with a low cost local food café and market, community bakery, small food production kitchens and cooking skills training. There will also be community meeting space, a conference room and small offices to rent
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About us This proposal is the result of a consultation effort led by local resident Alison Neathey and supported by Simon Turner at The Crags Centre.
It started off in February with a meeting of local residents, social enterprise activists and other people interested in sustainability and local food. We’ve picked up more people along the way.
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http://www.stleonardsyard.org.uk/about-us
Hope it happens.
I'm just waiting for the council to tell us that a new school, or nursery is dependent on the sale of the building...
@SRD, indeed I suspect that is exactly what will happen, unfortunately.
The last malt distillery in Edinburgh was not that far away, at Sciennes. For much of it's life it was romantically named "Glen Sciennes".
Bertram's St. Katherine's Works later expanded over the site, and all that is now cleared away and replaced with those brown-brick flats at the eastern end of Sciennes Road.
http://lostdistillery.com/01lowlands-lothian/011lowlands-lothiana-g/edinburgh.html
Of course, lots of grain spirit is still produced atby the North British at Gorgie and until relatively recently the Caledonian at Haymarket.
"...and replaced with those brown-brick flats at the eastern end of Sciennes Road"
Romantically named "Sienna Gardens".
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The name Sciennes derived from the convent's name association with Siena
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciennes
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Sciennes was once part of the Burgh Muir beyond Edinburgh's town walls. This area was known to attract "vagabonds, vagrants and outlaws" who found shelter from the authorities under its large trees.[citation needed]
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9 sciences was an address I found very hard to find in October 1987 it was a flat in the brown brick development. Student dive. Too poor to have a road or crescent or anything after it. My strategy of getting very drunk prior to looking for the property is not one I advise.
Nice to see the buildings put to productive use, but does this mean the cobbly route to the Innocent will now be traversed regularly by HGVs bearing ingredients for distilling, and distilled products?
How do distilleries make money before the first batch is ready? Deep pockets of the owners or do they make other spirits that don't need long maturing time?
"do they make other spirits that don't need long maturing time?"
Yes. Vodka, gin, etc.
They'll probably sell malt for blending too, I don't think they need to keep it on site for the year.
The adnam's brewery I. Southwold was selling younger spirit than whisky. They were not claiming it was whisky. That was two years ago so might be old enough to call it whisky now. I declined to buy it as they were asking for too much money. I tasted it and it was ok.
I note the hipster on his bike in the promotional illustration. Sign of things to come?
Deep pockets of the owners or do they make other spirits that don't need long maturing time?
Yes, often wealthy backers who see it as something of a hobby that might pay off in 8/10/15 years time. I assume they could also sell "whisky futures", i.e. sell the whisky before it's actually ready.
I think one of the reason that boutique / artisan / hand-crafted gins took off to such an extent was on the back of there being surplus, small-scale distilling capacity that had been put in for whisky start-ups. The owners of these stills could either make the gin themselves or rent the capacity to someone else and the gin is quick to bring to market (weeks or months rather than years).
I don't know if there's a bespoke Scottish craft vodka scene yet.
Ogilvy's and Arbikie are the Scottish vodkas I know of (not tried any yet).
The Abhain Dearg distillery on Lewis sold 'Spirit of Lewis' before they could call it a whisky.
@gembo they can call it whisky (they do, see here; http://cellarandkitchen.adnams.co.uk/catalog/category/spirits-1) because the ageing rules apply to Scotch only. They can't call it Scotch whisky.
It's 3 years old, not sure if it will be much to write home about at that age.
Scotch can be released after 3 years ageing, but most of that will go for blends (if at all).
kaputnik, crowriver, steveo: thanks, couldn't figure out the business model.
I've never been a whisky drinker but have been trying to develop a taste for it. My wife got me a small box of Speyside malt miniatures for Christmas (apparently the place to start for novices?) and my father-in-law gave me a very generous gift of a nice Aberlour. Any suggestions on what to try next?
Do what I did: Start with Ardbeg, acquire a taste for that and then everything is achievable!
Perhaps more accessibly, try some cask strength non-chill fiiltered numbers - like Aberlour's A'Bunadh. They have an oily feel which I find more pleasant than the more usual stuff.
Could go local and try Glenkinchie. It's a pretty soft, easy drinker.
That said, I used to hate whisky, and tried the 'easy' ones that people said were good for people who didn't like whisky. Never worked. Then I discovered Talisker, and got brought in by the peaty smoke. Things just developed from there.
The other good thing about Glenkinchie is that it's a nice cycle ride from Edinburgh (as a small group of CCErs did a few years back, heading round on the tour, then going to Gifford for burgers).
I can recommend Highland Park, also a less well known whisky, Scapa. Two of my all time favourites, though it's been years since I tasted either of them!
PS: that's funny, that's the Aberlour I got from my father-in-law!
@crowriver
Oddly, I had a side-by-side degustation of both in France last month.
If you overlook the lurid fake-tan colour, Scapa is an excellent whisky.
I've just about finished a lovely Balblair that I got from a friend for taking photos of his wedding. A touch on the pricey side for getting into though.
Had a Whisky Advent calendar in the run-up to Christmas (my wife had the Gin version) and there were some stunners in there, including a VERY old North British Distillers that tasted like nectar. Something like £300 a bottle.
I've got a taste for Japanese stuff recently. Nikka Black is very nice indeed. I self-limit to 9 bottles in the house at any one time, as I've got a little chest with space for that. There's a gap at the mo (and an interloping bourbon in one space - Fighting Cock, highly highly recommended).
"I self-limit to 9 bottles in the house at any one time"
Are you doing that thing motor-car drivers do with speed limits where they confuse "limit" and "target"?
:D I believe I may.
After Christmas our gin stash actually exceeded the whisky.
*hic*
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