A BLENDED Scotch whisky dating back to the 1850s, which became one of the world's first trademarks, is now available in Waitrose after being revived by the founder's great-great grandson.
James Eadie's Trade Mark 'X' blends all 12 of the whiskies still in production listed in the founder's Victorian ledgers, plus two whiskies from stills closed in the early 1990s.
The Trade Mark X blend is available in 84 stores across the UK, adding to the momentum the brand has built with export sales to seven countries, including France, Germany and Japan.
Retailing at £44.50, the whisky is available in Waitrose stores in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling. The listing comes on the back of sales in independent stores like Royal Mile Whiskies.
Rupert Patrick, chief executive of independent bottler and blender James Eadie, a former director at Ian Macleod Distillers, Beam Suntory and then Diageo, revived Trade Mark 'X' after discovering his ancestor's company records in the National Brewery Archives in Burton-on-Trent.
"Some people in the trade think I'm mad using these premium singles and extremely rare whiskies in a blend, but the art of blending is what gave Scottish whisky the dominant position in global spirits which it enjoys today," said Mr Patrick.
First sold in 1854 and one of the world's earliest trade-mark whiskies in 1877 – one year after the Trade Marks Registration Act became law, some 18 years before Jack Daniels began to use his famous square bottle in Tennessee, USA, more than three decades before the Johnnie Walker brand was trade-marked, and 32 years before Chivas Regal came into existence – it was praised in 1889 by Alfred Barnard, the leading drinks writer in Victorian Britain.
Its ingredients include Caol Ila, Aberlour, Craigellachie and Lagavulin, plus a grain whisky and malt from 'silent' stills Cambus and Littlemill.
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