North British 50 Years Old
125th Anniversary Bottling
North British 50 Years Old
Founded in 1885 The North British Distillery Co. Ltd celebrates its 125th Anniversary in this year of 2010.
To mark this event, this expression of 50 year old North British single grain Scotch Whisky has been selected from an exclusive parcel of the finest oak casks that have slowly matured the spirit in the traditional warehouses located at the distillery.
The crystal decanter is one of a limited bottling of five hundred, bottled at cask strength which has been shared with employees, former employees and friends of North British.
North British itself was born out of frustration and need. A quartet of whisky businessmen – John Crabbie, William Sanderson, Andrew Usher and James Watson – wanted to break free of the grip of the Distillery Company Limited, or DCL as it is commonly referred to. This producing giant was formed in 1877 with an initial composite of 6 Lowland distilleries that sought to control supply and ultimately the asking price for its whiskies. Blenders and stockists of the time would have to pay the price or try to find stock elsewhere. Frustrated, the aforementioned foursome took the initiative and founded their own distillery in 1877 with production starting in September of that year. By the following year, production had increased to an almighty 3.6 million litres to try and cope with the demand. This boost wasn’t enough and within a couple of years, North British had doubled its production to try and support the rising tide of a whisky boom. Even when the bubble burst towards the end of the century – thanks to some unhealthy practices elsewhere – consumer confidence crumbled but North British endured. The distillery remained independent until 1993 when it joined with International Distillers & Vintners to form Lothian Distillers.
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