Although a prominent Perthshire whisky business, Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers traces it origins back to the Hebridean Isle of Mull when it was established as John Murray & Co. The company was founded by the Bartholomew family and marketed a cream liqueur using its own centuries old recipe. Known as Columba Cream, the product was popular enough that a dedicated production facility was eventually required, and the company moved its operations to Bankfoot to the north of the city of Perth.
As a purpose-built bottling facility and shop, the Perth premises had caught the eye of an investments group of ex-industry figures looking to start a new whisky enterprise. These men were Brian Morrison and his son Jamie, alongside Kenny MacKay and Rob Starling. Brian Morrison was the former chairman of Morrison Bowmore Distillers (and son of former company owner, Stanley P. Morrison) while Mackay and Starling had also been directors there. The group acquired the Bartholomews' business in 2005, renaming it The Scottish Liqueur Centre the following year.
Although the business initially stayed the course by producing its Columba Cream and Bruadar liqueur brands, it quickly made moves in its goal of reviving the historically significant Perthshire whisky industry. Its first independent bottling brand, Càrn Mòr, was launched in 2008 and over the years a variety of ranges were introduced from it, including Strictly Limited and Celebration of the Cask.
In 2014, in order to better reflect the heritage of its ownership group, the company was renamed Morrison & Mackay and in the same year purchased the historic blended Scotch brand, Old Perth. The blend had first been introduced by the Perthshire-based company, Peter Dawson, in the early 20th century. When the company was sold to Charles Mackinlay & Co in 1985, it eventually became part of the Whyte & Mackay group who sold the Old Perth brand to Morrison & Mackay. Doubly significant to the company, Kenny MacKay had also worked for Peter Dawson in the earlier stages of his career.
By 2017 the company was ready to expand, and moved its operations to a new purpose-built blending and bottling facility in Aberargie. A new distillery was also built on the same site, however was to be run by a separate company by Brian and Jamie Morrison, The Perth Distilling Company. The two entities were united in 2020 however, when it was announced that the Morrisons had bought out the shares of their former partners and the company was rebranded once again, now Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers.
