Bonnington Distillery (Crabbie’s), Leith: Reviving John Crabbie

Overview

Bonnington is a modern distillery in Leith, Edinburgh’s port. It brings back one of the great old names of Leith whisky, John Crabbie & Co. The Crabbie business, founded in 1801, is famous for its green ginger wine. It was also a major Leith whisky blender and distiller in the 19th century. In 2007 the brand was bought by the Liverpool drinks firm Halewood, which later decided to make whisky again. The Bonnington distillery began production in March 2020, just before lockdown, on Graham Street, a short walk from where the Crabbies once worked.

Where it is

The distillery is on Graham Street in the Bonnington area of Leith, near the Water of Leith, about 2 miles north of Princes Street. It is close to the Water of Leith Walkway and the Shore, Leith’s old harbour quarter with its restaurants.

The full history

Leith: Scotland’s whisky port

For two centuries, Leith was the hub of Scotch whisky. Its bonded warehouses held huge stocks of maturing malt, and blenders, bottlers and shippers filled its streets. Names like Crabbie, Bell’s and Highland Distillers were all tied to the port. There were distilleries too. In the late 1700s a distillery at Bonnington, also known as the Leith Distillery, was bought by John Haig in 1804, one of the founders of the Haig whisky dynasty.

John Crabbie & Co

John Crabbie founded his wine and spirits business in Leith in 1801. Its Crabbie’s Green Ginger Wine became a Scottish institution. Around 1852 the firm took over a former porter brewery on Great Junction Street, close to the Yardheads distillery, which ran until 1884. Crabbie’s became an important blender and bottler of whisky. After it passed into larger groups in the 20th century, though, its whisky side faded away.

Halewood revives the name

Halewood International bought the Crabbie brand in 2007 and built a huge business with Crabbie’s alcoholic ginger beer. About ten years later it decided to bring back Crabbie’s whisky. It first released blends and sourced malts, then built its own distillery. Construction began around 2018, the stills were commissioned in 2019, and production started in March 2020. The first John Crabbie single malt from Bonnington spirit is matured in virgin American oak, and further Bonnington releases have followed.

How it’s made

Bonnington is a compact urban distillery with one wash still and one spirit still, with a capacity of around 500,000 litres a year. The house style is a fruity Lowland malt, with new and virgin oak casks used to give a spicy, vanilla-rich character at a young age.

Kings, clans & Leith

• The Logans of Restalrig held the lands of Restalrig, including much of medieval Leith, until their downfall after the Gowrie Conspiracy of 1600.
• The Siege of Leith, 1560. Mary of Guise, mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, fortified Leith with French troops. An English and Scottish Protestant army besieged it, and her death that summer ended the old alliance with France. See Clan Stewart.
• Holyrood, a mile and a half south, was the Stewart kings’ abbey and palace. Mary, Queen of Scots landed at Leith in 1561 on her return from France.

Churches, wells & water

• St Triduana’s Chapel, Restalrig: a rare 15th-century hexagonal well-house chapel, once a pilgrimage site for eye cures, about a mile east.
• South Leith Parish Church on Kirkgate, founded in the 15th century, is the old church of the port.
• The Water of Leith runs past the distillery, and its walkway follows the river up to Dean Village and the Botanic Gardens.
• Duddingston Loch, below Arthur’s Seat, is the nearest loch. See our lochs guide and our Edinburgh guide.

Visiting

Bonnington is a working distillery with limited visitor access. Visits are by arrangement only. The official Crabbie whisky website was offline when we checked in October 2026, so contact the distillery before travelling. For Edinburgh distilleries with full tours, see Port of Leith and Holyrood below.

Nearby distilleries

• Port of Leith (about 1 mile): a vertical distillery tower on the docks, with a rooftop bar.
• Holyrood (about 2.5 miles): in a Victorian railway building by Holyrood Park, with tours.
• Glenkinchie, East Lothian (about 16 miles).
• Falkirk (about 25 miles).

The Edinburgh & Forth Whisky Trail links them, and the whisky hub covers every region.

Sources

• Bonnington distillery — Wikipedia.
• John Crabbie & Co company history (official site, offline October 2026).
• Scottish Delight: Bonnington.