Cutty Sark

Cutty Sark is a blended Scotch created on 23 March 1923 by the London house Berry Bros. & Rudd for the American market during Prohibition. Instead of heavy, peated whisky it offered something new: a pale, light and fresh Scotch, made for ice and the era's emerging cocktails.

The name comes from the fastest tea clipper of the day (and a Robert Burns poem), while the famous bright-yellow label was a printer's mistake — judged so eye-catching it was never changed. Prohibition also gave it the legend of Captain William McCoy, who delivered Cutty Sark unadulterated — the origin of the phrase "The Real McCoy".

For a century the blend's heart has been light, fruity Speyside malt (especially Glenrothes) married with delicate grain whisky: citrus, vanilla and pale oak, with no smoke at all. Browse it in the Cutty Sark catalogue.