United Distillers was the Scottish company Guinness formed in 1987 by combining the Distillers Company Limited with Arthur Bell & Sons.1,2,3 In 1988 it launched the Classic Malts, six single malts each linked to the region it came from.3,4,5
Guinness completed its takeover of the Distillers Company Limited in April 1986.6,7 It was later found to have manipulated its own share price to pay for the deal.6,7 Guinness had bought Arthur Bell & Sons in a hostile takeover two years before forming United Distillers, which joined Bell’s with the Distillers Company.1,2,3 On 7 October 1987 the Distillers Company itself was renamed United Distillers Limited.7,8
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James Espey, who helped launch the Classic Malts, thought the firm had 32 distilleries then.3,4,5 The firm drove the price of Scotch up, used its old stocks for de luxe blends such as Johnnie Walker Blue Label, and placed emphasis on malt whiskies.3 By 1990 it could claim to be the largest and most profitable spirits producer in the world.3
In 1988 the firm closed the Caledonian grain distillery for good and sold the silent Knockdhu, which was not making spirit, to Inver House Distillers.9,10,11 In 1989 it sold Imperial and Glentauchers to Allied Distillers.6,12,13 Speyburn went to Inver House Distillers in 1992, though Whiskypedia gives 1991.14,15,16 In 1993 it closed Pittyvaich, judged surplus to its needs, along with Bladnoch.6,17,18 It also closed Cambus, which made grain whisky rather than malt whisky.6,7 It shut Rosebank that year too; the reason given was that its effluent treatment, which cleans its waste water, needed a £2m upgrade to meet European standards.6,19,20 Gordon & MacPhail bought Benromach from the firm in 1993.21,22 Balmenach was mothballed in 1993, closed but kept ready to restart, as demand for Scotch fell.11,23,24 The firm sold it to Inver House Distillers in 1997.15,23,25
In 1991 the firm bought the Glenmore Distillery Company of Owensboro, Kentucky, and sold it to Barton Brands in 1995.26,27 In 1992 it closed the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Louisville.1,28 The same year it opened a large new distilling plant in Louisville, the Bernheim Distillery.1,29
In 1997 Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo, which took over the firm.1,2,6 In 1998 United Distillers merged with International Distillers & Vintners to form United Distillers & Vintners, the spirits arm of Diageo; Whiskypedia gives 1997.1,7,8 United Distillers’ legal company was renamed Guinness United Distillers & Vintners Scotland in 2001 and Diageo Scotland in 2002.1,7,8