The distillery located in Brechin was founded in 1820 by the local farmers and bankers David, John and Alexander Guthrie. The distillery‘s name  North Port was established in 1839, which was derived from its position near the townwall and its nearby North Gate. In 1983 it was mothballed as there was an over capacity of whisky between 1983 and 1985 in Scotland. The distillery was was sold for a property development in 1990. Today there is a supermarket (2011). Only a single wall of the office remains today.

The whisky chronicler Alfred Barnard reported to his readers about Brechin Distillery: „The Distillery was built in the year 1820. Previous to its erection, Brechin and the neighbouring towns were supplied with Whisky made in the northern Grampians by smugglers, who carried it from thence in kegs slung across the backs of their ponies. The originators of the firm were Messrs. David, John, and Alexander Guthrie, brothers of the late eminent divine Dr. Thomas Guthrie, and the present proprietors are descendants of the same family.

The Whisky is Highland Malt, and the water used in its manufacture is conveyed in pipes from the Grampian Mountains, and the peats employed in drying the malt come from the same source. The district around Brechin being highly cultivated, barley of the finest quality is grown and carted by the farmers into the lofts of the Distillery, where nothing but the very best barley is malted. The annual output is 100,000 gallons.

Though the buildings of the Still House and Malt Barns are old the internal arrangements are of modern description, and in every case where machinery can be used in place of manual labour advantage is taken.

The spirit is distilled in the old-fashioned Pot Stills and condensed in Worm laid out in the bed of the Den Burn which runs through the works. The warehouses for the storing of Spirits are as fine as any in the north. One, built a few years ago, and which contains 100,000 gallons, is 200 feet long by feet road.“

(Alfred Barnard. The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom. London, 1887.)