MUCKLE Brig, which owns new single malt Scotch whisky distillery Port of Leith and the nearby Lind & Lime gin operation, has announced the creation of 53 jobs this year.
The group, founded by lifelong friends Ian Stirling and Paddy Fletcher, said the new roles would include hospitality and tourism, digital marketing, production, business development, and finance jobs.
The new Lind & Lime distillery, which was opened in May 2022 and is now exporting to the US, is on Coburg Street, and Port of Leith Distillery is about a 15-minute walk away, next to Ocean Terminal and the Royal Yacht Britannia.
The Lind & Lime brand was launched in 2018 from a small industrial unit.
Port of Leith is described by its founders as “the UK’s first vertical distillery”.
The £12 million, nine-storey distillery will offer tours and tastings. It will also feature a “top-floor mezzanine bar” with panoramic views of Leith and other parts of Edinburgh. It is due to open this summer.
Port of Leith Distillery’s founders, described by Muckle Brig as “lifelong friends from Edinburgh with a passion for wines and spirits who wanted to create delicious, beautiful and sustainable products that tell stories about where they’re from”, expect it to attract 25,000 visitors in its first six months.
The distillery will be producing its own single malt spirit from this year.
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Muckle Brig currently has 18 employees. It also includes Leith Export Co, the commercial sales arm for Port of Leith and Lind & Lime products.
Mr Stirling said: “It was a love for spirits and a love for Leith that formed our foundations back in 2018. Since then, we’ve opened our new Lind & Lime facility on Coburg Street and are now preparing to open the UK’s first vertical distillery, right in the heart of the historic port.
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“Local investment and local employment have always been a key focus of ours. We’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with a host of excellent local talent so far and are looking forward to welcoming some new faces to help us make history down by the shore.”
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The Lind & Lime distillery has since May last year welcomed more than 6,000 visitors to its tasting, bottling and cocktail-making tours, with annual numbers forecast to increase to 15,000 this year.
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