Branding The Water Of Life

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Until the late nineteenth century there were no brands, and this was as true for whisky as for any other products. Retailers were supplied with goods in bulk; weighed and measured them, packeted, poked, jarred and bottled; sometimes affixing their own labels, more often not.

Before 1845 glass was heavily taxed. Bottles were precious and were hoarded. You took your own bottles to your wine and spirits merchant and had him fill them, or you bought your wine or whisky by the small cask or earthenware jar and had your butler (i.e. 'bottler') bottle it up, or fill the decanters in the dining room.

Quality and consistency were in the hands of the retailer, and unscrupulous retailers could (and did) adulterate their products. Only with sealed bottles did the manufacturer have control of quality and consistency is when he could brand his goods. The brand name acts in part as a guarantee that what you are buying has these qualities - wherever in the world you buy it.

In relation to whisky, 'consistency' could only come about with the invention of mixed and blended whiskies. The reason for this is that every cask matures its contents in a slightly different way: in order for a single whisky to be the same, batch after batch, many casks must be vatted together to iron out differences.

Spirits dealers and publicans had long practised the mixing of whiskies from several distilleries, but it had been done in a haphazard way, and mainly to add flavour to the comparatively bland - but cheap - Lowland grain whiskies. Or vice versa, to reduce the impact of pungent malt whiskies. But before long it was realised that blends had a much broader appeal than malts, and it made it possible to achieve a consistent product batch after batch, to tailor the flavour of such blended whiskies to the English palate - and to brand them.

The commonest way of branding/guaranteeing quality was simply for the blender to put his name on the label - often writ large, so the brand-owner was synonymous with the brand: Usher's Old Vatted Glenlivet (the first true whisky brand), Johnnie Walker Black (and Red) Label, Bell's Extra Special, Dewar's White Label, Teacher's Highland Cream, Stewart's Cream of the Barley, etc.

In other cases, brand names identified themselves with Scotland - either specific places (not necessary factual), such as Dew of Ben Nevis, Dew of the Western Isles, Strathdon, Lorne Whisky, and the dozens of Glen This or Glen That. Or with more general 'Scottishness', such as Johnnie Mac, Claymore, Roderick Dhu, Robbie Burns, Grand Old Ghillie, Thistle, Scottish Arms, Highland Nectar, and so on.

Such associations communicated on several levels - The Famous Grouse or Spey Cast, for example, made huntin', shootin', fishin' associations that would appeal to sportsmen; Highland Queen or Scottish Arms spoke of 'heritage' - and for an age fluent in the works of Sir Walter Scott, and in which Sir James Barrie could remark that "a Scots accent is as good as a testimonial", the very fact of identifying your product with Scotland imported integrity.

Associating your brand with royalty was another way of bestowing distinction - Royal Arms, Royal Liqueur Whisky, King George IV, Queen Victoria, Queen Anne - and since the laws relating to claims such as 'As Drunk by Royalty and the Nobility' were looser than they are now, gullible consumers might be reassured.

The purity, wholesomeness and age of the contents of the bottle was often emphasised in the description on the label. In the early 1880s many brands were content with 'Scotch Whisky', but by the late 1890s adjectives were piled up to reassure and add value: 'Extra Special', 'Fine Old', 'Old Vatted Highland', 'Very Old Rare Liqueur'. Such descriptions did not necessarily bear any relation to the quality of the whisky!

I hope to share more on this subject with a select audience of interested scotch drinkers when I visit India in November.