In 1817, the then 68-year-old John Bulloch, a corn dealer, opened the Dunochter distillery in Dunbartonshire (the forerunner to today’s Auchentoshan distillery). In 1863 the company bought the Islay distillery of Caol Ila following the sequestration of Norman Buchanan. This purchase was followed by another Islay distillery, Lossit, in 1867 and the building of a Campbeltown distillery, Benmore in the following year. In 1896 the company was part of a consortium of distilleries which established the Tamdhu distillery with William Grant. 

From small beginnings Bulloch Lade & Co Ltd. grew into a major producer and exporter of Scotch whisky until its voluntary bankruptcy in 1920. During its existence the company bought or built four distilleries in different regions of Scotland and developed brands of blended Scotch whisky such as Bulloch Lade (B&L) Gold Label and Roderich Dhu, as well as a vatted (blended) malt whisky based on Caol Ila malt – called Glen Ila – which was mainly exported to Italy.

Bulloch Lade & Co. was one of many Scotch whisky companies that did not survive for long following the First World War with a combination of the rising costs of coal and barley and the introduction of Prohibition in the US. 

By 1927 DCL had taken control of all the former Bulloch Lade & Co. assets, purchasing the Caol Ila distillery from Robertson & Baxter and relicensing it back under Bulloch Lade & Co.

Bulloch Lade & Co. was finally dissolved in 2007.