• Robbie Burns Famed Old Scotch Whisky
  • Robbie Burns Famed Old Scotch Whisky

Robbie Burns Famed Old Scotch Whisky

$325 AUD

40 GL 75 cl

Produced as “a tribute to Robert Burns, Scotland’s immortal Bard” as described on the back label of the bottle, and not to be confused with the Robert Burns Arran whiskies of recent repute.

It seems to have originated as one of a series of DCL admixed brands in 1937 specifically for the low-priced end of the Canadian market. These arose from a marketing agreement between DCL and the Bronfman family (of Seagram fame) which covered both admixed brands and imported DCL secondary brands. For the former the arrangement was that DCL supplied Scotch malt whisky to be blended with Canadian grain whisky. These brands were not marketed in the UK but were designated for the lower end of the Canadian market and not for export. In the case of Robbie Burns, the production company was MacDonald Greenlees and Williams and the blender and presumably brand owner was R.H. Thomson. The imported malt content was 25 to 35% and the local grain content 75 to 65%.

When the brand ceased to be an admix and became a straightforward blend of Scotch malt and Scotch grain whiskies, as in the example we have here, is unclear but would have happened after the DCL/Bronfman marketing arrangement for Canada came to an end, that agreement having been finally renewed in 1947.

This product is located in the United Kingdom.

R.H. THOMPSON & COMPANY (DISTILLERS) LIMITED

R.H. Thomson & Company (Distillers) Limited

One of the smaller DCL trading companies which also held a licence to distil which allowed it to retain its separate identity. The distillery was Teaninich distillery at Alness on the Cromarty Firth in Ross-shire. Of considerable antiquity, the distillery was sold by the trustees of the last independent sole proprietor, Robert Innes Cameron, to DCL in 1933. Through that ownership the association with R.H. Thomson was formed. The latter was primarily a blending and marketing company with various brands including Robbie Burns, Old Angus, Windsor Castle, Heathwood and, in earlier days, Holyrood.

The company was registered in 1938 as a whisky blender, although its existence pre-dated that. Its most prolific period was during the 1960s and 1970s, through its principal brand, Robbie Burns Famed Old Scotch Whisky. The company eventually disappeared as part of the Diageo reorganisations in the 1990’s.

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