North British 1978-1992 - 14 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Miniature

North British is a Lowland grain whisky distillery owned jointly by Diageo and Edrington and has a production capacity of around 70 million litres of alcohol per annum. The distillery was founded on the outskirts of Edinburgh in 1855 by blenders William Sanderson, James Crabbie and Andrew Usher with the goal of easing their reliance on the grain whisky cartel Distillers Company Limited.

North British remained independent for over a century before being taken over in 1993 by Edrington Group and, ironically, International Distillers and Vintners - the descendant of North British’s original rival Distillers Company Limited. Today North British also makes Smirnoff vodka, while the distillery’s easy-drinking single grain whisky has recently become widely available from independent whisky bottlers including Signatory, Douglas Laing and Hunter Laing.

Signatory Vintage Whisky Company was founded by Andrew Symington in 1988 after a spell as assistant manager at the Prestonfield House Hotel, where he had the opportunity to buy a cask of Glenlivet 1968. A robust and canny businessman, Symington had soon acquired some outstanding parcels of casks from great distilleries, and quickly established a reputation among single malt fans for good value, high quality single casks, the majority of which were released at full strength.

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Signatory released outstanding whisky from Ardbeg, Glenfarclas, Springbank and many more, with frequently remarkable examples of lost or obscure distilleries. Soon established as one of the leading new wave independent bottlers, Symington was also an early exponent of bottling whiskies without colouring or chill filtration, a policy that has also served Signatory well at their Edradour distillery, which was purchased in 2002.