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What’s in a name

WILLIAM GRANTS STAND FAST
This brand no longer exists as it is now known as Family Reserve. In the 1890's
Grants supplied much of their whisky in bulk to blenders and wholesalers. In 1898
their largest customer went bust and to avoid following suit the company decided
to blend and bottle their own whisky. It was named after the Grant's battle cry
“Stand Fast”.

ISLE OF JURA
The name Jura comes from the Norse word for deer. A few years ago there were
6000 deer on the island compared to 225 people.

CUTTY SARK
The whisky was named after the
famous clipper (Scottish built) which
was the fastest ship of its day and was
built in 1869. It still holds the record for
a run from Australia to England. The
ship itself was named after the fleet
footed witch in Robbie Burns poem Tam
O'Shanter. The inspiration for the witch
was a friend of Burns namely Katie
Stein. She was a descendant of Robert
Stein who invented the continuous still
that revolutionised whisky making.

DRAM OF DESTINY
The Stone of Destiny was the coronation stone of Scottish
kings since the 800's. The English thought this was a good
gimmick so they stole it in 1297. However the Scots are
pretty cunning so they hid the original and the English took
away an imitation stone (no David it was not a plastic one).
This made it embarrassing when the English returned the
stone in 1996 as we (I’m Scottish by birth) had to pretend to
be grateful and excited. The miniature
commemorates the Stone’s return.

RED HACKLE
This whisky takes its name from the plume of
small red feathers worn in the bonnets of the
Black Watch. This honour was bestowed on the
regiment in recognition of its valour at the battle
of Gildersmalsen in 1795.

MOIDART
This is Cadenheads own brand of whisky. In
1745, after the battle of Culloden, Bonnie Prince
Charlie fled to Moidart near the Isle of Skye. In
gratitude for helping him escape the English he
gave the Mackinnon family the recipe for
Drambuie.

Frank Wynn

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