Distillery
Leven distillery is an experimental Scotch single malt whisky distillery in Leven, Scotland. It is owned by Diageo and is not open to the public.
Its purpose is to future-proof Diageo’s Scotch whisky business, by finding new flavours and tweaking processes to improve efficiencies. Leven’s distilling team work closely with Diageo’s blenders to experiment with flavours throughout the process, from milling at different settings, playing with different barley varieties, yeasts and heavily roasted malts, and moving cut points. By running its experiments here, Diageo avoids the break in normal production output it would otherwise experience at one of its other distilleries, although some trials are scaled up at select sites.
As well as being the only distillery in Scotland to reside within a bottling facility, it is also one of the only licensed distilleries in Scotland without a spirit safe, having received special dispensation for being an experimental site.
In 2005, Diageo created the Leven’s Process Liquid Development Area (PLDA). This was a new blending and filtration facility to focus on new product development.[13]
In 2013, a fully functional distillery was established at Leven to allow for dedicated experimental distillation projects, becoming Diageo’s 29th working distillery.[14]
While its focus today is to experiment with processes and flavour innovation in Scotch whisky, Leven also distils sake for Diageo’s Jinzu line, the only product to be regularly produced at the distillery.
