North Port isn't a 'port' in the way most of us know the word. In fact, the distillery's location was at least five miles from the North Sea coast. "Port" is actually a Scots word for a town's gate. In this case, the gate was on the north side of the Scottish town of Brechin. Though the distillery is gone, the town is still there, near the River Esk in corn country, with a thousand year old cathedral in its center.