Drinks giant Diageo has said the seeds of future regeneration for whisky tourism in Scotland are being sown in Scotland this week with the opening of a "unique" new distillery and garden visitor attraction.
The single malt distillery in East Lothian – the region famed as the garden of Scotland for its quality food and drink produce - will open its gates to the public again this week after a major transformation of its visitor attraction at Glenkinchie as part of a £185 million investment in Scotch whisky experiences by Diageo.
It said Glenkinchie will be "the Lowland Home of Johnnie Walker, the first of four corner distilleries around Scotland that will form an incredible network of visitor experiences linked to the world’s number one Scotch whisky and the new global centrepiece Johnnie Walker Princes Street attraction in Edinburgh, planned to open next summer".
READ MORE: Doddie Weir whisky auction backed by drinks giants
The Glenkinchie Distillery attraction is centred around a landscaped garden – said to be "carefully curated to reflect the stunning local rural environment" – and "an extraordinary immersive guest experience" in the distillery’s traditional Victorian red brick warehouses.
Barbara Smith, managing director of brand homes for Diageo in Scotland, has officially declared the new visitor experience open with the ceremonial planting of a tree to complete the garden and to represent the future growth of Scotch whisky and tourism.
She said: “We are acutely aware of the difficult times many people are going through, particularly our colleagues in the tourism and hospitality sector across Scotland.
"We know there’s a long way to go and a lot of uncertainty ahead. Still, we believe in the resilience of our business and our communities, and we will be doing all we can through our investment to sow the seeds of recovery and future growth.”
Ramsay Borthwick, Glenkinchie distillery manager, said it "will be offering people an experience like no other distillery in Scotland".
Subject to government guidance on COVID-19, Glenkinchie will open to the public on Thursday, October 29.
Boots to unveil 12-minute swab test
Boots is set to unveil a new coronavirus testing service it says can return results from swab tests in just 12 minutes.
Scottish cleantech Celtic Renewables in fundraiser to support UK’s first biorefinery
A Scottish renewables company is launching a crowdfunding campaign to support its commissioned biorefinery in Scotland.
Scottish student enterprise resources launch
Scotland’s leading enterprise programme for tertiary education Bridge 2 Business (B2B) launches online this week, with an ambitious plan to reach all further education colleges.
Sign up
You can now have the bulletin and the top business news stories sent direct to your email inbox twice-daily, as well as the weekly round-up on Sunday.
◼https://www.heraldscotland.com/my/account/register/
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here