By my count there were 16 major breweries built in Edinburgh in the last 150 years.
(Luckily, I keep a spreadsheet of such things). In at number 16 is the Caley Brewery, opened by Lorimer and Clark 150 years ago in 1869 in Shandon and still going strong. 
At number 15, G & J Machlachlan's Castle Brewery opened in the Grassmarket in 1875, some 144 years ago. It relocated in 1907.
A non-mover at number 14, Jeffrey's opened the New Heriot brewery at Roseburn in 1880. It carried on brewing until 1992, latterly an outpost of Tennent's. flickr.com/photos/cagiva1…
Sneaking in at number 13, Murray's opened the Craigmillar No. 1 brewery (funnily enough, the first in the Craigmillar brewing suburb) in 1886, 133 years ago.
Holding steady at number 12, Thomas & James Bernard opened the New Edinburgh brewery in Gorgie in 1888, it was bought up by Scottish Brewers in 1960 and shut down to reduce the competition and industry over-capacity.
At 11, the Edinburgh United Breweries of 1889. They consolidated some existing brewers and the assets were acquired by Jefferies in 1935 after what was (at that point) the UK's largest tax duty scandal to date (they had been brewing off the record out of hours for years)
A new entrant at 10, Daniel Bernard was a son of T & J but fell out with the other inheritors of that business and set himself up along the road in 1893. The business failed in 1904 and became a distillery, it's now part of the Macfarlan Smith pharmaceuticals site at Gorgie.
At 9, Drybrough's were one of the bigger Edinburgh brewers and joined the Craigmillar suburb in 1895. They were bought out by Watney Mann in 1965 as the big English brewers moved north of the border and were closed by Allied Lyons in 1987. Most of the brewery buildings remain
In at 8, Pattison's were a big Leith distiller and bottler and entered the brewery market in 1896 at Craigmillar. The Pattison empire was built on sand at collapsed in 1899, the brewery assets were taken over by Robert Deuchar.
Up one at 7, John Somerville joined the Craigmillar party in 1897 with the North British Brewery. Murray's took it over as Craigmillar No. 2 in 1922. United Breweries took over Murrays in 1960 and shut down No. 2 the following year.
Straight in at 6, Robert Deuchar (whose name would later be given to that pioneer of the Ale revival in Edinburgh) built their own premises at Craigmillar in 1899 to complement those they bought from Pattisons. Bought by Newcastle Brewers in 1954 and closed by S&N in 1961.
(footnote, Deuchar, although a Scottish name, Robert actually started out in Newcastle. The name is most associated with Edinburgh, all the company's brewing was consolidated here in 1920. But it maintained its public houses in NE England, hence the buyout from Newcastle)
Top 5 territory now. T. Y. Patterson opened the smallest of the Craigmillar breweries in 1899. They were bought out by Edinburgh brewer Aitken in 1936 and the site was used for other purposes. Only the gates remain.
Another entry for Maclachlan's in at 4. They moved from the Grassmarket to Duddingston (a bigger site, a more modern brewery and a rail connection beckoned) in 1901 at the New Castle Brewery. Closed in 1967 by Bass Charrington. flickr.com/photos/3684428…
A new entry at 3, W & J Raeburn were the last brewery to open at Craigmillar 118 years ago in 1901. Bought by Robert Youngers in 1913, the War Office took it over in 1939 to produce industrial yeast. It later found its way into the S&N empire
Just missing out on the top spot, MacKay's opened the St. Leonard's brewery (at St. Leonards) as late as 1908. By 1963 it was in the hands of Watney Mann who took the licensed premises to supply with their own beer and shut down the brewery. "The Real MacKay!"
And no surprises at no. 1, Scottish and Newcastle built the ultra modern Fountain Brewery in 1973, to replace a site of the same name a little bit along and on the other side of the road. S&N dominated the Scottish brewing scene and then slowly tried to kill it. It almost did.
Footnote. My bitterness towards S&N is sincere. I have absolutely nothing against Innis & Gunn. Personally I think their beers taste of a mix of soap and marshmallows, but I also really like Tennents lager so I'm no authority on the matter of what beer tastes like.
Craigmillar
Southside
Grassmarket & Cowgate
Holyrood & Canongate
Abbeyhill
Gorgie and Slateford
And Roseburn and Fountainbridge
And in graph format. There may be a few inaccuracies at the earlier end, and some of the closure dates are estimates, but it can be seen that by # breweries, the 1890s were the peak.
It's worth nothing that many were relatively small and overall production would have increased into the 1960s due to modernisation and closure of older, smaller, less efficient breweries as the industry consolidated in the late 1950s and 1960s.
But in terms of numbers and production, Edinburgh was 2nd only to Burton-on-Trent as the Empire's 2nd city of brewing. Most cities had breweries but they generally served only the local market. Edinburgh was unusual to have brewers serving not just Scotland but the world.
The McEwan's logo, before the laughing Cavalier, was this self-confident declaration of the Globe being supported by the strong hand of the Union Flag and the Royal Standard.
McEwan's was one half of what became, in 1931, Scottish Brewers, when it merged with William Youngers. (No relation to Robert Younger of Abbeyhill or George Younger of Alloa). Scottish Brewers were *the* dominant force in both Edinburgh and Scotland.
The Edinburgh brewers had a big connection to the north of England, where there was a ready market of thirsty miners and shipbuilders. It was natural that as the industry consolidated in the 1960s that Scottish Brewers merged with Newcastle Brewers to form S&N.
My (great) Uncle Joe was an S&N publican and spent much of his career in County Durham selling beer to miners, until the fallout of the miners strike suddenly meant there was no money to go round.
If you look in the right places, it's not hard to find the evidence of all those old breweries. Melvin's Brewery at Boroughloch (if you get a chance to see it, the office unit off Boroughloch Lane has a cracking frosted glass window) flickr.com/photos/kaputni…
Gordon & Blair's Balmoral Brewery, on Calton Road. This place always struggled financially (apparently due to water supply problems) and the site was used for maltings or sublet for much of its history flickr.com/photos/kaputni…
Robert Younger brewed at St. Ann's at Abbeyhill. Look for the RY monogram above the door. flickr.com/photos/kaputni…
Campbell, Hope & King were an ancient name in brewing and distilling, they brewed off Chambers Street, the buildings have now been incorporated into the University flickr.com/photos/kaputni…
Maclachlan's started out in Glasgow but brewing shifted to Edinburgh. Their first site was off the Grassmarket. This building later became a mining research laboratory for the Lothian coal companies, and then a central mines rescue station flickr.com/photos/kaputni…
Jeffrey's named their brewery the Heriot, after that noted wealthy Edinburgh philanthropist whose land it was built on. Coincidentally it is built on top of the "Crawley Pipe" which brought water into the town flickr.com/photos/kaputni…
Someone later built the King's Theatre on top of it, but Taylor, Macleod & Co. brewed on the old site of Drumdryan house, the name you can still see on the neighbouring street. flickr.com/photos/kaputni…
Steel, Coulson & Co. brewed at Abbeyhill next door to Robert Younger at the Croft-an-Righ Brewery (sic. Croft Angry). Some of the buildings new used as housing, others by Historic Environment Scotland as workshops flickr.com/photos/kaputni…
Until recently you could see the ground storey of the Calton Hill Brewery on Calton Road, in use as a rental car garage. The brewery went through a variety of ownerships but the remains were demolished ~18 months ago though to be replaced by flats. flickr.com/photos/kaputni…
OK time to thread this up please @threadreaderapp
