Hankey Bannister
Part of:
Inver House Distillers
About the brand
Hankey Bannister is one of the oldest blended Scotch brands — founded in London in 1757 by Beaumont Hankey and Hugh Bannister, two businessmen of opposite temperaments. It made its name on remarkable smoothness, fuelled the British elite for centuries and was a favourite of Winston Churchill.
Today it belongs to Inver House Distillers (ThaiBev), which blends it from the group's own Scottish malt distilleries (Balblair, Pulteney, anCnoc among them). The brand favours proven recipes over a sprawl of limited editions:
- Original — light and sweet, with toffee, honey and spice; no smoke.
- Heritage Blend — a reconstruction of the 1924 flavour (46%, non-chill-filtered), subtly smoky.
- 12 YO Regency and 21 YO Partners' Reserve — aged expressions, from vanilla and oak to dried plum and chocolate.
Browse it in the Hankey Bannister catalogue.
Timeline
- 1757 Beaumont Hankey and Hugh Bannister open a shop on John Street in London's West End.
- 1901 A Royal Warrant from King George V — the brand becomes a royal-household supplier.
- 1940 Winston Churchill orders regular deliveries of Hankey Bannister to his Chartwell home.
- 1988 The brand passes to Inver House Distillers; production is integrated with the group's Scottish distilleries.
- 2012 A 1924 bottle bought at auction becomes the template for recreating the cult Heritage Blend.
