North Port 20 Year Old 1979 Rare Malts - 70cl 61.2%

During the 19th century the principle trade of the town and former royal burgh of Brechin in Angus was textile manufacturing, much of which was exported to France. However Brechin was also home to two breweries and two distilleries – Glencadam, which was built in 1825 by George Cooper, and Brechin distillery, which was founded five years earlier by three of the Guthrie brothers. Brechin distillery prevailed and remained in family ownership for around 100 years. At some point during the 19th century the family changed the distillery’s name to North Port, referencing a nearby gate in the wall that once surrounded the town (Brechin is still a town, despite having a cathedral) In 1922 the distillery, which could produce 450,000 litres of spirit per year, was bought by Distillers Company Ltd. (DCL) and W.H. Holt & Co. Ltd. It was transferred to DCL’s Scottish Malt Distillers in the same year. North Port gained a second wind in the mid-1900s but became one of the nine DCL distilleries to close in 1983 as a response to widespread excess stocks in the market.
The distillery’s buildings were gradually dismantled piece by piece until it was finally demolished in 1994.