In 1885, Andrew Usher, William Sanderson and John M Crabbie decided to establish The North British Distillery Company Limited on a pig farm in ten acres of stubble on the western outskirts of . This was adjacent to the new and developing suburb of and Dalry. In the opposite direction across pasture land were the country houses of Balgreen and Damhead.

Andrew Usher paid for the construction of Edinburgh's Usher Hall, William Sanderson was the blender of Vat 69 , John Crabbie's family firm produced Crabbie's Green Ginger

This unpromising location became an exciting new addition to the commercial and industrial heartbeat of Edinburgh. The site was chosen in preference to a number of others due to its ready access to an abundant supply of water from the Pentland Hills via The Union Canal. In addition the site was in close proximity to the railway network - an essential support to industry in the Victorian era. The main city sewer running less than 100 yards from the field provided a ready solution to the disposal of effluent. Finally, the neighbouring dairy farmers provided a ready market for the disposal of the draff and dreg residue from the distilling process

The site provided the ideal backdrop for this group of independent blenders and purveyors of their own brands of Scotch whisky to build and operate a distillery which would provide access to their own grain spirit. The spirit would be of consistently high quality and at a price which they could control. In essence the distillery was to be financed by the trade for the trade - a sort of "cooperative" arrangement that would remain the ownership structure for the next one hundred and eight years.

The distillery came on stream in September 1887, producing just under 1 million litres of alcohol in the remainder of that calendar year. In the first full year of production in 1888 distillery output amounted to 3.6 million litres of alcohol. Such was the early success of the NB that fillings demand increased year on year and by 1897 the Chairman, Andrew Usher, commented "there is no whisky more popular in Scotland than North British". By the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 annual output had increased to approximately 9 million litres of alcohol supporting the rapidly expanding export sales of blended Scotch whisky. As the war dragged on the availability of cereals began to dwindle and eventually ceased altogether. Distillation was suspended in early 1917 and plans were initiated to convert the distillery into an acetone factory to help support the munitions programme. However the conversion work was never completed with peace being declared in late 1918. Distilling operations resumed in January 1920 by which time filling prices had escalated to an exorbitant 9.5p per litre of alcohol! The post war era was one of great uncertainty with cereals and coal prices fluctuating wildly. Through it all, the NB continued its steady recovery and by 1925 filling volumes had recovered to pre- war levels.

Source: The North British Distillery Company Limited.