Grand Old Parr (often simply just Old Parr) is a blended

Scotch whisky Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distil ...

produced by

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Is named after the

Old Tom Parr Thomas "Old Tom" Parr ( (reputedly) – 13 November 1635) was an Englishman who was said to have lived for 152 years. A portrait of Parr hangs at Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, with an inscription which reads "Thomas Parr died at the age of ...

, the reputed oldest man in England. Launched in 1909, it is found in export markets such as

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

(especially

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

) and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and is no longer distributed in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Old Parr is known for its distinctive dimpled and rounded bottle design. It retails at a premium price, and its competitor brands include

Johnnie Walker Black Label Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended ...

and

Chivas Regal Chivas Regal () is a blended Scotch whisky manufactured by Chivas Brothers, which is part of Pernod Ricard. It was founded in 1786, with its home being in the Strathisla distillery at Keith, Moray in Speyside, Scotland, and is the oldest contin ...

. It also has an 18 year old Whisky bottle.

History

Old Parr was introduced in 1909 by Greenlees Brothers of London and Glasgow. It takes its name from the reputed oldest man in Britain,

. The name emphasised the maturity of the product. The brand was initially successful in London, before finding popularity in export markets. Following a series of mergers, Greenlees became a part of MacDonald Greenlees & Williams. In 1925, the company was acquired by

Distillers Company The Distillers Company Limited was a leading Scottish drinks and pharmaceutical company and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over by Guinness & Co. (now part of Diageo) in 1986 in a transaction which was later f ...

, which was acquired by

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

, which merged in 1997 to form Diageo.

Blends

The standard blend is the 12-year-old called Grand Old Parr (40% ABV). The 15-year-old blend is known as Old Parr (43%), and the 18-year-old is known as Old Parr Superior (43%). Old Parr Superior was launched in 1989, and is blended in small quantities in Scotland twice a year. Discontinued blends Old Parr Tribute and Old Parr Elizabethan, the latter launched in the mid-1980s, retailed at a higher price than Superior. Old Parr Silver was released in 2013, it is chill-filtered to minus 6 degrees Celsius. In 2014 a new Old Parr Tribute was introduced for the Colombian market.

Production

Old Parr is sold in a distinctive dimpled and rounded square bottle, and is packaged in a gold cardboard box. The basis of the blend is

Cragganmore Cragganmore distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery situated in the village of Ballindalloch in Banffshire, Scotland. The distillery was founded in 1869 by John Smith on land leased from Sir George Macpherson-Grant. The site was chosen by Smi ...

. Glendullan has been a major component of the blend since World War II. The brand sold over 1 million cases (1 case equals 9

litre The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3). ...

s) in 2011, putting it among the top twenty highest selling Scotch whisky brands in the world. Old Parr was bottled at Diageos plant in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

before that closed in 2012. Old Parr is now bottled at the Diageo complex in Leven, Fife.

Markets

The brand's highest sales are in the export markets of Japan and South America.Whisk(e)y
/ref> In 2009-2010, the 12 year old held 52 percent of the Scotch market in Colombia. The brand had ceased to be distributed in the United Kingdom by the 1980s.Distillers go with flow as Latin America develops taste for Scotch – The Scotsman
/ref>

Advertising

The image of Thomas Parr painted by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

is featured on the label of Old Parr. In the 1970s the brand was marketed with the slogan "Make friends with Old Parr".

References

{{Diageo , state=collapsed Diageo brands Blended Scotch whisky Products introduced in 1909