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The Smell of the Distillery


Tasavallan

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Would Tynecastle be Tynecastle without its distinctive smell?  

 

Homesick: when driving into Edinburgh on the Western Approach Road I always have the windows down so we can smell the air.  The ';marmitey' aroma IS Tynecastle.   

 

My first real job after I left the Watt was with Civil Engineers involved with the refurbishment of the mash tuns at the NB,  My job was to do the on-site measurement and I would come away at night with my nostrils filled with the smell of the mash.  It would be with me for days. 

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No it wouldn't. As an infrequent visitor to both tynecastle and Edinburgh, I really enjoy the smell as it invokes so many memories.

Where I live now is only a few miles from Burton on Trent and the town has a similar smell. It reminds me of Tynecastle each time I'm there.

On that point, Burton is a town full of Brewers, so what is origin of the smell, as I'm not aware of a distillery based in Burton?

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ToadKiller Dog

Is Boddingtons not brewed in the burton area , sure Burton on Trent has brewery's .

The smell in gorgie is from a brewery rather than a destilery is it not from hops ?

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No it wouldn't. As an infrequent visitor to both tynecastle and Edinburgh, I really enjoy the smell as it invokes so many memories.

Where I live now is only a few miles from Burton on Trent and the town has a similar smell. It reminds me of Tynecastle each time I'm there.

On that point, Burton is a town full of Brewers, so what is origin of the smell, as I'm not aware of a distillery based in Burton?

 

It's a broadly similar process at a brewery, the key difference being that they're mashing with barley, rather than wheat and barley as done at the NB.

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PresidentGrant

Where I grew up we'd walk right past the brewery every time we went to Tynecastle. Essential part of the experience.

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As a kid always thought it had a sort of beans smell about it. Very nostalgic for me when I smell it, takes me back to my ST days

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Where I grew up we'd walk right past the brewery every time we went to Tynecastle. Essential part of the experience.

 

My dad used to park next to Appleyards, just along from Murrayfield.

There was a little lane always filled with Hearts supporters heading to the game right next to the brewery, used to come out at the

Bowling green.

 

Loved the smell, but the lane was always muddy as hell - so old gutties only.

 

Miss the smell but occasionally threads like this come up and I'm for a second tricked into smelling it.

 

Happy Days!

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Maroon tinted glasses 2

As kids me and my brother used to moan about the smell whenever our dad drove along the western approach but as we got older the smell became more associated with being close to Tynecastle and therefor bearable.

 

Now whenever I am back up for the weekend and driving past with the kids in the car I make a point of putting the windows down just to get the same response I gave 35ish years previous, and just as my dad did i tell the boys "you will learn to love that smell and one day it will remind you of the greatest football team the world has ever known".

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As kids me and my brother used to moan about the smell whenever our dad drove along the western approach but as we got older the smell became more associated with being close to Tynecastle and therefor bearable.

 

Now whenever I am back up for the weekend and driving past with the kids in the car I make a point of putting the windows down just to get the same response I gave 35ish years previous, and just as my dad did i tell the boys "you will learn to love that smell and one day it will remind you of the greatest football team the world has ever known".

Say the same to mine.

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TyphoonJambo

The place I work in, in Madrid, often gets the exact same smell. The locals reckon it?s from a coffee place but it smells the same as the brewery at Tynie and always makes me think of home. 

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As kids me and my brother used to moan about the smell whenever our dad drove along the western approach but as we got older the smell became more associated with being close to Tynecastle and therefor bearable.

 

Now whenever I am back up for the weekend and driving past with the kids in the car I make a point of putting the windows down just to get the same response I gave 35ish years previous, and just as my dad did i tell the boys "you will learn to love that smell and one day it will remind you of the greatest football team the world has ever known".

This.......

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I'm sure it's a brewery, not a distillery. 

 

I thought that too, until recently. But the only brewery left in Edinburgh is the (tiny) Deuchars one on Slateford Road. The big breweries have all gone, but the smell on the western approach road area is as powerful as it was 30 years ago. So I think it has to be from the NB distillery.

 

Surely there's a food and drink engineer on here who can confirm this?

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Captain Price

It's a distillery making whisky spirit. All these brands contain N.B. Spirit.

 

042e73b01c127b7230a5fc08987e6f07.jpg

 

 

I stand corrected. 

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As a kid I quickly grew fond of the aroma. Its a constant reminder of my first season going to games and the huge levels of excitement that was happening at the time...85/86. I love the smell and it's a constant reminder of how exciting football can be. My boy is now 8 and I think it's the same for him. we go cycling along the cycle path and as soon as he smells the aroma, he demand we cycle all the way to tynie. Even if the place is closed. Jeezo 30 years of going to Tynie, I feel old...quick gives a sniff of the brewery so I can feel like a 12 year old again LOL

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I thought that too, until recently. But the only brewery left in Edinburgh is the (tiny) Deuchars one on Slateford Road. The big breweries have all gone, but the smell on the western approach road area is as powerful as it was 30 years ago. So I think it has to be from the NB distillery.

 

Surely there's a food and drink engineer on here who can confirm this?

 

I'm a master blender, not an engineer, but I can confirm that North British is indeed a distillery. Knocks out about 30 million litres of pure alcohol every year, which goes into some huge blended whisky brands for both Diageo (Johnnie Walker, Bells, J&B etc) and Edrington (Famous Grouse).

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Is Boddingtons not brewed in the burton area , sure Burton on Trent has brewery's .

The smell in gorgie is from a brewery rather than a destilery is it not from hops ?

Boddingtons is in or around Manchester.

 

The smell at Tynie is from the distillery, but is very similar to the smell from a brewery.  Both beer and whisky are derived from malted barley, hence the similarity in smell. 

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The smell is coming to an end. They are putting some kind of filter on it to stop it.

:raging:

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Love the smell and the memories it provokes from childhood.Instance pics appear in the mind from early eighties.Around the same time I loved the smell at the speedway at Powderhall on a Friday night.Magic memories!

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Big Slim Stylee

 

My nan and grandpa lived in Saughton. It's quite simply the smell of my childhood, so vivid I can still smell it now.

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I love it, just love it. I live in Livingston and the Label5 brewery/distillery is just along the road between Livingston and Bathgate. I smell the aroma daily. Totally makes my think of my beloved Tynecastle.  :2thumbsup:

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Arthur Morgan

The smell is coming to an end. They are putting some kind of filter on it to stop it.

:sob:

 

I love that smell.

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I still miss the smell that used to come off the giant Fountainbridge breweries.
Living in Corstorphine in the 1980s meant getting a neb full of that on the way to the football then the distillery smell at Tynie itself.

 

Great days.

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Could some enterprising person not develop one of those plug-in air fresheners with the scent of 'nearby distillery'?  It would beat that fresh linen or mulled wine pish.

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Boddingtons is in or around Manchester.

 

The smell at Tynie is from the distillery, but is very similar to the smell from a brewery.  Both beer and whisky are derived from malted barley, hence the similarity in smell. 

Tennents brewery at Roseburn shut in 1992.Carling is brewed in Burton on Trent

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It's a distillery making whisky spirit. All these brands contain N.B. Spirit.

 

042e73b01c127b7230a5fc08987e6f07.jpg

They also do a staff-only cask strength single malt. Did a site visit whilst I was at uni. 63% if memory serves, rocket fuel.

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zoltan socrates

Pissing with rain, the brewery's/distillery whatever , and the smell of diesel from the trains as you approach McLeod St, magic.

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It was great. It was a technical tour as part of my engineering degree. The heat inside the still room was incredible. If memory serves there was enough raw (94%) alcohol going through it would fill a bottle every seven seconds.

 

To show how pure the alcohol was, the guy took a sample in one glass, held it above his head and poured it into another one at his waist. Not a single drop reached the glass, it all evaporated

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http://www.feedsmarketing.co.uk/maize-distillers-dark-grains

 

The smell is from the dark grains plant where spent grain is mixed with spent wash (containing yeast) and dried to make cattlefeed.

 

Boddington's Strangeways Brewery shut in 2004. Note that it isn't marketed as "The Cream of Manchester" anymore. Dunno who is brewing it under licence for InBev.

 

As for Burton, are you talking about the smell at the south end of town? There is a rank smell hanging about the Unilever food plant where they make Marmite by heating waste yeast up to 90C for hours at a time. There is also Rumenco who make cattle feed from spent grain (they're on the Derby Road I think) and one mega brewery (Coors) in the centre of town. There is also Marston's at Shobnall (near Unilever).

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Paid Member_103,147 posts

DONATOR

 

Posted Today, 19:18

 

Could some enterprising person not develop one of those plug-in air fresheners with the scent of 'nearby distillery'?  It would beat that fresh linen or mulled wine pish.

 

Great shout

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Nelly Terraces

Been round the NBD a coupla times with my work, and the smell from it is all part of the experience of going to my beloved Tynecastle. Always think it's better for dark winter matches, just adds to the whole atmosphere.

 

The entire thing is just magnificent.

 

HHGH Forever.

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I have had an issue for many years with the Bovril smell from NB at Tynie.

When I was a young lad my mum used to go to the fishmonger every Saturday morning. My old man liked smoked herring or kippers (aye ok) to most of us, so that was what we had and for me that meant indigestion or heartburn. Bear with me.............so at home games on a Saturday and despite consuming a pie, tea, probably Irn Bru as well, the heartburn would kick in about 3:30ish. Trouble was I somehow connected the heartburn with the Bovril stench from the NB and now still have a Pavlovian style reaction if I get a whiff of it at Tynie. Gaviscon please

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I always thought it was a combination of the NB and the Calidonian brewery?

 

Anyway I love the smell, it makes me think of going to the football as a boy with my dad. Really nostalgic and one of the real unique aspects of the Tynecastle experience.

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Ah that beautiful smell. Takes me back to a midweek game me and my mate only had enough money for our bus fares. A damp night seeing the stadium lit up by the flood light, watching the police horses breathe fill the cold air, sneaked into the school then over the wall, when you get to the top of the fence the strong aroma hits you, you've made it and managed to sneak in. 44 years ago that aroma brings back happy memories

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Smell would give me the boak when I went to Tynecastle as a lad.

 

But now its just braw :)

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Cairneyhill Jambo

Love the smell of the NB Distillery, especially on a midweek game under the floodlights.

 

Peterhead was the same, but the air over the town was filled with the smell of Branston Pickle as it was made in the Crosse and Blackwell factory there.

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I love the strong yeasty smell when you are in the local area and the memories and feeling associated with the Gorgie area are great although the further across town you get, the more nausiating the smell can be as it is diluted. 

 

NBD were one of the possible culprits for the Legionnaires outbreak last year hence why the filters might now be on the agenda for being installed.

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kawasakijambo

Smell would give me the boak when I went to Tynecastle as a lad.

 

But now its just braw :)

Snap

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Drove past tynecastle today and the smell was glorious. The essence of gorgie.

The smell of success.

 

Fingers crossed.

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When i was a young boy my dad used to pop me in the car and off we would set on our Journey, I knew when I smelt that smell I was going to Tynecastle to watch Hearts. I love the smell, it still to this day remembers me of the time my love affair with hearts was born.

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