North British

In 1885, to counter the monopoly of D.C.L., a coalition of independent blenders and wine merchants united to establish a grain whisky supply distillery in Edinburgh. Though "differing in quality and price," their shared objective was "to combat the enormous monopoly and maintain uniformly low prices." Andrew Usher II served as the distillery's first chairman, John Crabbe as vice-chairman, and William Sandison as general manager. They selected a greenfield site north of Gorgie Road, west of Dalry and the Caledonian Distillery. The location offered excellent railway connectivity (notably the Wester Dalry branch of the Caledonian Railway to Glasgow, and the Granton & Leith branch to Leith, Scotland's principal grain port) and ample water supply from the Union Canal. The distillery commenced production in September 1887 with a single Coffey still. In its inaugural year, it produced and sold 1.5 million gallons. Within four years, capacity doubled, and by 1897 output had reached 3 million gallons, with the entire second year's production pre-sold. The chairman proudly declared: "No grain whisky in Scotland is more popular than ours." The difficult 1920s compelled the distillery to sign an agreement with D.C.L., restricting annual production to the following year's orders. Typically, D.C.L.'s sales were four times North British's, so capacity was apportioned four-fifths to one-fifth, reducing North British's output to 2-2.5 million gallons annually. This arrangement persisted until 1934, when U.S. Prohibition repeal stimulated a sharp sales increase. During WWII, grain shortages forced North British to cease distilling. Though distilling resumed post-war, grain rationing didn't restart until 1949. The 1950s brought expansion and modernization. The site extended west over the former tram station and south onto land previously housing a Scottish brewery on Slateford Road. A new facility was developed at Muirhall, 18 miles away near West Calder, with 26 warehouses accommodating 40 million gallons of inventory. Production grew rapidly to meet rising demand: capacity hit 3 million gallons in 1955, 6 million in 1961, and 12 million in 1972. The company employed some 400 staff. In 1968, the distillery installed an evaporator for spent wash and a dark grains plant for pelletized cattle feed. These facilities expanded in 1976 to process spent wash and residues from the nearby Caledonian Distillery. Carbon dioxide was pumped to Caledonian for recovery. In 1993, North British Distillery's management was acquired by Lothian Distillers Ltd, a joint venture between I.D.V. and Robertson & Baxter. I.D.V. merged with U.D. in 1998 to form U.D.V., later becoming Diageo. Robertson & Baxter was renamed Edinburgh in 1999.

In 1947, North British Distillery's transport fleet consisted of horse-drawn carriages. By 1967, the operation had expanded to include six Commer trucks (tasked with delivering casks as far as Aberdeen) and four tractors. The distillery also owned two diesel locomotives that could haul the 'Grain Special' trains to Leith port. In 1959, W.G. Farquharson, Managing Director of Arthur Bell & Sons, proposed building a lowland malt distillery on-site (as many other distilleries had done), but the plan never came to fruition. On November 12, 1970, the 2.5 millionth cask of North British grain whisky was filled. It was sealed in a commemorative small wooden cask and put on display at the distillery.