ADD TO THE HISTORY OF BREWING – OLD MELDRUM
These two labels carry the name R. M. Cruickshank as the bottler of the ales. Both are amongst Scotlands top brewers in their time. yet little or nothing is known of why Oldmeldrum is the source for the bottling and labeling of beers brewed in Edinburgh and Falkirk.
Any people in Old Meldrum know? Please contact: Paul Johnston ( pjohnston@cix.co.uk )
Hi. This was a common practice. The large English & Scottish Breweries which, due to their size & output benefited from economies of scale on pricing, negotiated deals where they would then sell and transport their casks of beer by rail throughout the UK to smaller concerns who would then bottle the beer for direct sale to the public. Some of the bottlers, like the two here were also brewers and bottled & casked their own beers. Other bottlers were aerated water manufacturers (as were some of the smaller breweries) and also a large number of general merchants and grocers also did this. Regards. John