Caledonian was a grain distillery built in Edinburgh in 1855 by Graham Menzies & Co. At the time, it was the largest distillery in operation and one of many grain distilleries to open during the period. This boom led to an overproduction crisis, in response to which six distilleries decided to divide up the market between them, with the largest share going to Caledonian. It operated just one large column still and, between 1867 and 1900, stills for producing an “Irish-style” grain whisky for blenders. In 1884, the distillery was one of the founding members of Distillers Company Limited (DCL), with Graham Menzies’ son William becoming its second director in 1897. Caledonian was transferred to Scottish Grain Distillers in 1966 but ultimately closed in 1988, a few years after DCL merged with Guinness to form United Distillers, consolidating their portfolios in the process. With the exception of a handful of rare official bottlings, Caledonian is most commonly found among independent bottlers.

A Caledonian 31 year old distilled in 1987 and matured in a hogshead. Cadenhead was founded in 1842 by George Duncan, who was quickly joined by William Cadenhead who renamed the business after Duncan’’s death in 1858. When Cadenhead in turn passed away in 1904, his nephew Robert Duthie took over and turned the business into the independent bottler it is today. After Duthie, it was managed by one of his employees, Ann Olivier, whose stubborn approach to running the business led to much of the stock having to be sold at auction by Christie’’s (London) in 1972 to feed the kitty and save the business. It was then sold to J. & A. Mitchell and Co, who also owned Springbank, and moved to Campbeltown.