Pattisons Whisky was a blended Scotch whisky produced by Pattisons Ltd. from 1896 until its bankruptcy in 1898. It is known for its role in the booming scotch whisky market of the late 19th century, and its instrumental role in the market's subsequent collapse.

History

Pattisons Ltd. started out as a

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

wholesaler Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Seeing an opportunity for much greater profits, they entered the whisky business by forming a blending company in 1887, going public two years later. Around this time, the great phylloxera epidemic devastated the

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vine ...

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, significantly depleting the region's brandy reserves. This lull in production allowed whisky producers to bring about huge market growth. It was in this boom environment that Pattisons took shape. Walter G.G. Pattison and Robert P. Pattison expanded from the blending business into

distilling Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

and incorporated in 1896 as Pattisons Ltd. The company grew very rapidly, purchasing a half share in the Glenfarclas distillery, shares in the

Aultmore distillery Aultmore distillery is a whisky distillery in Keith, Banffshire, producing an eponymous single malt whisky. Its name is a derived from the phrase ''An t-Allt Mòr'', Gaelic for big burn, referring to its water source the Auchinderran burn. It wa ...

and the Oban distillery and the Ardgowan grain whisky distillery. They also acquired the Duddingston Brewery in

Craigmillar Craigmillar ( gd, Creag a' Mhuilleir, IPA: �kʰʲɾʲekˈaˈvɯʎɪɾʲ, from the Gaelic ''Creag Maol Ard'', meaning 'High Bare Rock', is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, about south east of the city centre, with Duddingston to the north and ...

. The brothers were known for their extravagant spending in both their personal and professional lives. They employed a sales force of 150 men, many more than their much larger competitor

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 ...

Ltd. Their advertising budget totaled over £60,000 in 1898, or what would today be nearly £4.3m in the U.K. alone. In addition to their huge print

advertising campaigns An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and concep ...

, they gave away 500

grey parrot The grey parrot (''Psittacus erithacus''), also known as the Congo grey parrot, Congo African grey parrot or African grey parrot, is an Old World parrot in the family Psittacidae. The Timneh parrot ''(Psittacus timneh)'' once was identified a ...

s to vendors that were trained to repeat phrases like "Pattisons Whisky is best!" or "Buy Pattisons Whisky!" Pattisons ad 21

Bankruptcy and Conviction

In 1899 the company began falling apart. DCL froze their account after an unpaid balance of £30,000. It was revealed that the company had massively inflated their profits through shoddy accounting practices and defaulted on several substantial debts. Among their many offences was mixing cheap whisky with a small quantity of fine Scotch and labeling it "Fine old Glenlivet" to bolster their bottom line by nearly £27,000. The brothers were tried for four counts of

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...

and

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

in 1901. After just an hour and a half the Pattisons were found guilty. Robert Pattison was jailed for 18 months and Walter nine.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Modern photograph of Pattisons' office on Constitution St., Leith

Auction record for a bottle of vintage Pattisons
Blended Scotch whisky