A great name for a distillery in Scotland, but sad that it no longer exists and not to be confused with the Victoria Caledonian distillery in British Columbia nor the one of the same name that used to exist in Tasmania.

What is of interest to us here is the very large, industrial distillery that stood in the heart of Edinburgh producing endless quantities of grain whisky for the many brands of blends owned by United Distillers. The distillery was built in 1855 in what was then the outskirts of the Scottish capital. Its location was determined by access to railways and a good supply of water. Caledonian originally made both pot still malt whisky and patent still grain whisky but by the 1900’s was doing only the latter.

At the time of my visit in 1986 there was no sign that the distillery’s days were numbered. In fact, it closed two years later and the site is now occupied by residential housing. A sad end to what was once an industrial colossal.

Some enterprising merchants have bottled Caledonian as a single grain whisky but it is something of a rarity.