Halkirk near Thurso in Caithness had two distilleries:  Gerston from 1796 to 1885 and Ben Morven which was also known as Gerston II from 1886 to circa 1911. The distillleries were established on the banks of the River Thurso, near Gerston Farm. The production water was supplied by the Calder Burn. The Ben Morven Distillery was named for the highest hill in Caithness.

The original Gerston Distillery was first registered by Francis Swanson in 1798. It was expanded by his  sons, John and James, from 1825 to 1851. James C. Swanson was the owner from 1852 to 1860.

The distillery was closed not long after it was sold in 1872 to an English owned company. The so-called  Gerston Distillery Company build a new distillery shortly after aquision. The architect A. Maitlan & Sons was from Tain. Misako Udo reports that William Grant, the second son of William Grant of Glenfiddich, worked there as a bookeeper until 1888.

In 1897 the new distillery was sold to Northern Distilleries Ltd. who renamed it to Ben Morven Distillery. It had never been very successful and was closed around 1911. 

„The Ben Morven spirit although made from almost the same water, never quite attained the excellence of its predecessor and was not a success as pure malt.“ (see Whisky and Halkirk by John Porter).

„Production was intermittent and due to increasing costs, the financial position of the company and as some aver, poor management, it was finally closed in 1911 and the buildings dismantled in stages,“ writes John Porter in 1977. Other sources say 1911 or 1914.

The only remaining buildings, perhaps the exiseman‘s house and perhaps the stillhouse, have been used for housing.

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