North British 1980 - Cask Strength 60.3% - 1990s

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.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.