North British whisky distillery

North British, or NB as it’s more commonly known, is one of the largest distilleries in Scotland and until the Leith distillery comes on stream the only remaining distillery in Scotland’s capital (since 1988 when the Caledonian distillery closed its doors for the last time). Few official bottles exist as the bulk of the spirit is used for blending, though the SMWS and Signatory Vintage lines are available from time to time.

NB is almost inconceivable in capacity, at full steam the distillery can produce 10 bottles of whisky every second and sufficient feed for 28,000 cows every week as such the distillery has had to remain on the cutting edge to limit waste from CO2 capture to fitting anaerobic digesters (AD), the resultant biogas powered engines generate 9,000KW/day of electricity and can be actually be sold back to the national grid.

North British factsheet

Name	Pronounced	AKA	Region
North British			Lowlands
Country of Origin	Status	Active	Whisky Type
Scotland	Active	1885 - Present	Grain
Website	Tours Available	Owned by	Parent Group
North British	Not Available	Co-owned by Diageo and the Edrington Group

North British Timeline:

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1885North British grain distillery is founded by Andrew Usher, William Sanderson and John M. Crabbie
1887North British came on stream in September 1887
1897Chairman Andrew Usher claims 'There is no whisky more popular in Scotland than North British'
1916The distillery is converted to be able to produce acetone from maize, though this is ultimately not used
1917Production ceases due to lack of grain
1920Production resumes
1939Production ceases due to the start of the second World War
1948Scotland's first saladin maltings were installed
1988The Caledonian closes leaving North British Edinburgh's last distillery
1993Lothian Distillers is formed buying out all other shareholders
2003The Maltings and all but one warehousing sites in Edinburgh are sold for redevelopment