Edinburgh Distillery — Lowland Single Malt Whisky

Edinburgh Distillery is a former Scotch whisky distillery that operated in Edinburgh, Lowland, Scotland. Its exact founding date is not clearly recorded in surviving sources, and it was closed and demolished in 1925. In its later years it was owned by Andrew Usher & Co, the Edinburgh whisky house whose founders did more than almost anyone else to establish blended Scotch as a global product.

History

Detailed records of Edinburgh Distillery's day-to-day production have not survived, and no founding date for the site is documented in available references. What is confirmed is its ownership: the distillery was run as a partnership within Andrew Usher & Co, with brothers Andrew Usher II (1826–1898) and John Usher named as its proprietors. Andrew Usher II, sometimes called the "father of Scotch whisky," pioneered the vatting and blending techniques in the mid-19th century that turned whisky from a mostly local drink into a major export, and he went on to co-found the North British grain distillery in Edinburgh's Gorgie district in 1885, serving as its first chairman until shortly before his death. Edinburgh Distillery itself appears to have remained a smaller, largely malt-producing operation supplying the Usher blending business rather than a distillery known for bottling under its own name.

Quick Facts

• Region: Lowland
• Founded: Unknown
• Owner: Andrew Usher & Co (historical)
• Status: Closed

Closure & Legacy

Edinburgh Distillery closed and was demolished in 1925, and no part of the original site is known to survive today. Because its output was largely absorbed into the wider Usher blending business rather than marketed as a standalone single malt, no distillery-branded bottlings from Edinburgh Distillery are known to circulate among collectors. Its more lasting legacy runs through its owners: Andrew Usher II's blending innovations and his role in founding the North British Distillery had a far greater impact on Scotch whisky history than the distillery itself, whose city concert hall, the Usher Hall, still stands today as a monument funded by the same family.