North Port 1976-1994 - 17 Year Old - Cadenhead Authentic Collection - Single Cask

One of the less well-known casualties of the 1983 round of DCL distillery closures, North Port distillery (sometimes known as Brechin) has now been largely forgotten. Only half a dozen or so North Ports have appeared from independent bottlers in the last decade and, unless Diageo are planning a 40-year-old, it seems likely that the last cask has been bottled. The distillery itself was demolished in 1994 and replaced by a supermarket.

North Port ploughed away for decades as a blend-fodder workhorse but was never officially bottled in its working lifetime. The distillery’s profile was raised briefly by some outstanding mid-1990s Rare Malt bottlings and a 2005 Special Release; subsequently, with little stock available for independent bottlers, the North Port distillery returned to obscurity. A high quality old style Highland single malt whisky, well worth seeking out while bottles can still be found.

In 1842 George Duncan established a wine merchant and distillery agency business in Aberdeen. Duncan was joined in the early 1850s by his brother-in-law William Cadenhead, who took over the business after Duncan’s death in 1858, changing the company’s name to Wm. Cadenhead. When Cadenhead died in 1904 the company passed to his nephew Robert Duthie, who developed the spirits side of the business.

Duthie died suddenly in 1931, and employee Ann Oliver was put in charge of Cadenhead’s. Sadly, Oliver’s tenure ended in financial difficulty and on her retirement in 1972 the business was forced to sell its entire inventory. Cadenhead’s was acquired soon afterwards by J & A Mitchell, proprietors of Springbank distillery, who relocated the business to Campbeltown. Cadenhead’s has flourished under Mitchell’s stewardship, releasing many legendary single malt bottlings in the 1980s and 1990s and now has outlets in Edinburgh and London as well as Campbeltown.