North British
SCOTCH SINGLE MALT WHISKIES > N
NORTH BRITISH
Aged 28 years
51,6 %
Last Bottle and empty
RARE AULD CASK
STRENGHT SCOTCH WHISKY
Grain Scotch Whisky
Last Bottle and empty
RARE AULD CASK
STRENGHT SCOTCH WHISKY
Grain Scotch Whisky
Grain Whisky
NORTH BRITISH (1886 -
NORTH BRITISH (1886 -
The North British (the archaic and somewhat disparaging term applied to post-Jacobite Scotland) distillery was founded in Edinburgh in 1885. Up until that point, Scotland’s blenders and spirit merchants could only buy their grain from DCL [see Cameronbridge]. In an attempt to break the monopoly, Andrew Usher, William Sanderson, John Crabbie, and James Watson joined forces to build a new – and substantial – grain distillery in Gorgie, close to the Union Canal, the railway line, and the Caledonian distillery which had been absorbed into DCL the year before. A case of the last straw perhaps?
Production started in 1887 from a single Coffey. Within three years capacity had doubled to three million gallons a year. Whisky-making ceased during the First World War, but production restarted in 1920. It was nursed cautiously through the tricky period of the 1930s, but blossomed once more post-WWII. By the 1960s it was making six million gallons a year (a figure which would double by the start of the following decade), and for a period, North British was the largest grain plant in Scotland.
By the 1960s it was still being run as a kind of co-operative with its shareholders including Robertson & Baxter, IDV, William Lawson, Macdonald Martin, Seagram, and William Teacher. In 1993 its management was taken over by Lothian Distillers, an equal partnership between R&B [now Edrington Group] and IDV. The result of the merger between the latter and DCL (by that time called UD) in 1997, meant that North British was being jointly run by the firm which it had set up in opposition to.
BLENDS CONTRIBUTED TO i
Cutty Sark, Famous Grouse, Chivas Regal, J&B, Isle Of Skye
CAPACITY (MLPA) i
73
COOK TIME i
90 minutes
DISTILLATION SYSTEM i
Coffey still
FERMENTATION TIME i
72 hours
FILLING STRENGTH i
68.60%
GRAIN TYPE i
Maize
MALTED BARLEY % i
min 15%
NEW-MAKE STRENGTH i
94.50%
NUMBER OF COLUMNS i
Three Coffey Stills
WATER SOURCE i
Pentland water
OWNERS
NORTH BRITISH REVEALS INAUGURAL SINGLE GRAIN
October 2018
Historic Edinburgh grain distillery North British will release its first commercial bottling next month, a 58-year-old single cask grain whisky, in partnership with independent bottler Douglas Laing & Co.
North British Incorporation Edition single grain whisky
Historic occasion: The single grain celebrates North British distillery’s incorporation 133 years ago
The Incorporation Edition, distilled in July 1960 and fully matured in an unspecified hogshead, is a limited edition release commemorating the North British distillery’s incorporation on 24 October 1885.
Alan Kilpatrick, managing director for North British, said: ‘As the eleventh managing director, it is my great honour and privilege to release this single cask, our first ever commercial bottling.
‘It was distilled in 1960 on the same Edinburgh site as the company commenced production in 1885, and still does to this day.’
Bottled at a cask strength of 51.6% abv, the whisky is said to contain ‘butterscotch, caramelised pineapple and coconut on the nose’ and ‘toasted oak’ on the palate.
Each of the Incorporation Edition’s 222 bottles will be sold in a handmade oak presentation box with a booklet signed and numbered by Kilpatrick.
Douglas Laing & Co. has joined forces with North British to handle the sales and marketing aspects of the release.
Fred Laing, chairman of Douglas Laing & Co., said: ‘We are excited to be working with North British on such a special release: as a family, we have long been single grain enthusiasts and as a business, we have been long term proponents of the single grain category – the fit is ideal.’
Priced at £1,700 for a 70cl bottle, the Incorporation Edition will be available from specialist retailers from November.
North British distillery was originally founded in 1885 as a cooperative by four well-known blenders – Andrew Usher, William Sanderson, John Crabbie, and James Watson – to provide an alternative source of grain whisky, rather than sourcing stock from industry giant Distillers Company Limited.
Today, North British is co-owned by drinks multinationals Edrington and Diageo through a shared holding company, Lothian Distillers.
Practically crowd-funded to provide an alternative source of grain, North British is today jointly owned by two of Scotland's largest distillers.
The North British (the archaic and somewhat disparaging term applied to post-Jacobite Scotland) distillery was founded in Edinburgh in 1885. Up until that point, Scotland’s blenders and spirit merchants could only buy their grain from DCL [see Cameronbridge]. In an attempt to break the monopoly, Andrew Usher, William Sanderson, John Crabbie, and James Watson joined forces to build a new – and substantial – grain distillery in Gorgie, close to the Union Canal, the railway line, and the Caledonian distillery which had been absorbed into DCL the year before. A case of the last straw perhaps?
Production started in 1887 from a single Coffey. Within three years capacity had doubled to three million gallons a year. Whisky-making ceased during the First World War, but production restarted in 1920. It was nursed cautiously through the tricky period of the 1930s, but blossomed once more post-WWII. By the 1960s it was making six million gallons a year (a figure which would double by the start of the following decade), and for a period, North British was the largest grain plant in Scotland.
By the 1960s it was still being run as a kind of co-operative with its shareholders including Robertson & Baxter, IDV, William Lawson, Macdonald Martin, Seagram, and William Teacher. In 1993 its management was taken over by Lothian Distillers, an equal partnership between R&B [now Edrington Group] and IDV. The result of the merger between the latter and DCL (by that time called UD) in 1997, meant that North British was being jointly run by the firm which it had set up in opposition to.
NORTH BRITISH FACTS
BLENDS CONTRIBUTED TO i
Cutty Sark, Famous Grouse, Chivas Regal, J&B, Isle Of Skye
CAPACITY (MLPA) i
73
COOK TIME i
90 minutes
DISTILLATION SYSTEM i
Coffey still
FERMENTATION TIME i
72 hours
FILLING STRENGTH i
68.60%
GRAIN TYPE i
Maize
MALTED BARLEY % i
min 15%
NEW-MAKE STRENGTH i
94.50%
NUMBER OF COLUMNS i
Three Coffey Stills
WATER SOURCE i
Pentland water
Diageo
1997 - present
The Edrington Group
1999 - present
CURRENT OWNER
Lothian Distillers Company
1993 - present
PREVIOUS OWNER
The North British Distillery Company
1887 - 1993