
Isabel Irvine
Tour guide at Port of Leith Distillery, freelance writer, and artist who co-runs Lochs & Fens homeware.
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Jul 28, 2026
EP4 Leith: Water, Whisky and Wine
18:06
18:12
18:18
18:42
25:43

Ruth GrayHOST
So can you tell me a wee bit about why Leith's such an important landmark when it comes to the history of whisky?

Isabel IrvineGUEST
Leith is a landmark in the kind of entire story of the import export of wines and spirits.

Isabel IrvineGUEST
If you go back to the 1100s, the kind of abbots of Holyrood Abbey, they were having their religious wines, let's say, rolled up the hill from the port up to Holyrood for the abbots and the monks.

Isabel IrvineGUEST
Things took a bit of a hit after that with the Napoleonic Wars and the kind of virus of the vines in Europe.
7 MINS LATER

Ruth GrayHOST
And so if you could travel back to a particular time and place in Leith and see a certain scene related to whisky or wine or gin, what would that be? What would you like to witness?