🥃 Gone But Not Forgotten
Email newsletter originally sent to subscribers on 8th May 2025
Today is looking set to be a great day! Not only is the sun shining but I’ll also be visiting a new distillery - well, new to me. It’s a distillery that’s not open to the public but one I’ve wanted to take a look around for many years now: North British Distillery.
I’ll be sure to write about the visit in next week’s newsletter (as well as posting on social media and all that). But the way in which North British Distillery came to be is super interesting.
In short - because if I go into too much detail now, next week’s newsletter will be pretty brief - when The Evil Empire (😉) a.k.a Distillers Company Limited acquired Caledonian Distillery from Graham Menzies in 1884, some of the key Edinburgh and Leith blenders - such as Andrew Usher, William Sanderson and John Crabbie - started to get a bit angsty. They thought this acquisition would give DCL the monopoly on grain spirit production. Fearing that the prices of the grain whisky they needed for their famous blends would increase, a consortium set about building their own grain distillery i.e North British.
North British is still going (ironically, part owned today by Diageo) but Caledonian closed in March 1988. However, the remnants of the distillery still exist. Head to Distillery Lane, just behind Haymarket Station, and you’ll see the huge chimney stack (you can’t miss it!), the patent still house, the power house and the bonded stores.
As most of the buildings are listed, they are mostly intact making this one of the best examples of a lost distillery in Edinburgh. There are, however, a number of others - and during the pandemic (can you believe that was five years ago?!), I created a wee guide to several - if not all - of them.
Caledonian Distillery - 1880s
I offered this as a freebie to those who signed up to my newsletter. So, for those who’ve subscribed more recently, you can download it HERE. I’ve given it a wee update - just adding the What3Words locations for each one so that they’re easier to find.
If you head out lost distillery bagging in Edinburgh, be sure to take a few photos! You can send them to me by replying to this email or posting on social media (and if you tag me - @kaskwhisky - your posts will be easier for me to find). Looking forward to seeing them!
And in true Columbo style, just one more thing. I had the pleasure to chat to Dolph Shaw about Opening The Case: The Affairs of Pattisons’ Whisky for his Whisky Book Club over on YouTube. You can watch / listen to the interview HERE.
Slà inte!
Justine