Cutty Sark

Type: Blended or sourced brand

A ship sketched on a napkin helped give Cutty Sark its identity. At a lunch on 23 March 1923, Scottish artist James McBey suggested the name and drew the ship illustration, according to Berry Bros. & Rudd. The London wine merchant’s new blended Scotch took its name from the tea clipper built in Dumbarton in 1869. Its ambition was equally distinctive: a lighter whisky than the heavier, darker styles of the day. [2][3][4][5]

What Cutty Sark is known for

Lightness was the founding idea. Berry Bros. & Rudd describes a deliberate departure from the darker, heavier whiskies then on offer. That tells us what the merchant wanted to create; the aromas, texture and finish of a bottle made today need their own description. [3]

America became the other defining part of the story. Cutty Sark had an established American presence by the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, and reached a much larger sales milestone in 1961. The producer records more than 12 million bottles sold in the US in one year; the trade history gives the figure as one million cases. [3][5]

A London merchant’s approach to blending, followed by substantial American success: those are the foundations of Cutty Sark’s identity. This is a brand history, not the story of one Scottish distillery. The ship on the label supplies the name and imagery, rather than the location of the distilleries behind the blend. For other blended Scotch histories, see J&B and Johnnie Walker.

A London merchant’s whisky

Berry Bros. & Rudd already knew the whisky business when Cutty Sark arrived. The merchant had traded at No. 3 St James’s Street since 1698 and introduced an earlier blend, St. James’s, in 1915. Cutty Sark grew out of that established business, rather than the opening of a distillery bearing its name. [5]

The decision to create the brand is dated to a lunch on 23 March 1923. The producer places the gathering in the Parlour at No. 3 St James’s Street, with Scottish artist James McBey suggesting the name and sketching the ship illustration on a napkin. It is a memorable origin for a merchant’s whisky: a name and an image taking shape around the lunch table. [2][4]

Story box: A ship sketched at lunch

Founding story: Berry Bros. & Rudd created Cutty Sark in 1923. The decision is dated to 23 March, and the producer places the lunch in its St James’s Street Parlour. [2][3][4]

Turning point: Edrington bought the brand from Berry Bros. & Rudd in 2010, turning a long supplier relationship into ownership. The Drinks Business.

Key person: Scottish artist James McBey suggested the ship’s name and drew an illustration for the label on a napkin, according to the producer. [2]

Claim: James McBey sketched the ship illustration on a napkin at the lunch.

Verdict: Documented.

What the record shows: Berry Bros. & Rudd’s account describes a ship illustration drawn on a napkin.

Evidence against or gap: The supplied record identifies no independently examined surviving sketch.

Earliest known source: Not established from the sources checked.

Source: Berry Bros. & Rudd, A bottled history of spirits.

Sources and claim mapping: - Creation and intended lighter style: Berry Bros. & Rudd, History of Berry Bros. & Rudd. - Lunch date: Whisky Magazine, centenary report. - McBey and the napkin illustration: Berry Bros. & Rudd, A bottled history of spirits.

Last checked: 7 November 2026.

The vessel itself was already part of history: the tea clipper had been built in Dumbarton in 1869. Ship and whisky share a name, but their chronologies remain distinct. The ship’s arrival at Greenwich in 1954 is a milestone in the vessel’s life, not in the foundation or production of the blend. [3][5]

America, Prohibition and the McCoy story

Cutty Sark’s American history comes with a smuggling legend. Berry Bros. & Rudd describes Francis Berry establishing an agency in the Bahamas before Prohibition, and Captain William McCoy shipping liquor from there to Rum Row off the US coast. Whether Cutty Sark was among his cargoes remains the unanswered question. [3]

The trade history records McCoy’s capture by the US Coast Guard in November 1923. It also describes Cutty Sark as well established by the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. The captain’s activities and the brand’s American presence are recorded; the link between them is less certain. [5]

Legend verdict: McCoy and Cutty Sark

Claim: William McCoy smuggled Cutty Sark, linking the brand with “the real McCoy”.

Verdict: Legend.

What the record shows: Berry Bros. & Rudd treats the connection as an assumption, while ScotchWhisky.com calls it “entirely possible”. The story is recorded, but its central claim remains unconfirmed. [3][5]

Evidence against or gap: The supplied record identifies no direct evidence that McCoy carried Cutty Sark. Whether he did remains open.

Earliest known source: Not established from the sources checked.

Sources: Berry Bros. & Rudd, History of Berry Bros. & Rudd; ScotchWhisky.com, Cutty Sark. Both recorded as checked in November 2026.

Last checked: 7 November 2026.

The commercial story needs no embellishment. The Buckingham Corporation held the New York agency for Cutty Sark, and the 1961 sales milestone reveals the scale of the American market. Distribution and sales give the brand’s American importance a firmer foundation than the colourful McCoy connection. [3][5][10]

Suppliers and owners are different things

For decades, the business later known as Edrington supplied Cutty Sark without owning it. Robertson & Baxter became the brand’s sole whisky supplier in 1936. Edrington’s purchase from Berry Bros. & Rudd followed in 2010: two milestones, with very different meanings. [5][6]

The published trade account offers a revealing picture of the blend during Edrington’s ownership. It describes mostly grain whisky supplied by North British and Invergordon, alongside about 40 malt whiskies. Named malt components included Highland Park, Glenrothes, Macallan and Bunnahabhain. That is a historical account of the blend in that period; the present recipe is not established. [5]

Edrington put Cutty Sark up for sale in June 2018. Reports of the November sale named La Martiniquaise-Bardinet as the purchaser and stated that Edrington would continue blending and bottling during a transition. Ownership had changed, even while those production services continued. [6][8]

The purchasing group’s ranges also included Label 5 and Glen Turner. Label 5 offers another route into that corporate connection, though each brand has its own identity and history. [7]

Cutty Sark’s development in dates

From its creation in 1923 to its centenary in 2023, Cutty Sark’s milestones cover several different stories: the blend’s supply, its ownership, its packaging and its individual releases. Keeping those categories distinct makes the chronology easy to follow.

A change of supplier or bottle design does not reset the founding date. Nor are Storm, Prohibition Edition and the centenary blend interchangeable names for the original blend. Each belongs to a particular release history, with its own place in the brand’s development. [4][5]

Reading the bottles through the history

The release names offer useful clues. Storm belongs to the Edrington period. Prohibition Edition looks explicitly to the anniversary of repeal. The limited 23 year old blend celebrates 100 years since Cutty Sark’s creation, rather than the age of Berry Bros. & Rudd, the much older business behind it. [4][5]

For an older bottle or an account of the range, start with the expression and its launch date. A recorded launch places a whisky in the brand’s history; it does not establish that the expression remains available today. The founding ambition of a lighter style is useful context, but it cannot supply a single flavour description for every Cutty Sark release.

The most revealing thread is the relationship between merchant, market and supplier. A London wine merchant created the brand, America helped define its growth, and a longstanding supply arrangement eventually became ownership. Together, those strands explain far more than treating Cutty Sark as though it were a single distillery.

Where to go next

• J&B: explore another merchant-associated name alongside Cutty Sark.
• Label 5: follow the group connection in the 2018 sale reports.
• Johnnie Walker: continue through the histories of blended Scotch brands.

Sources

[2] Berry Bros. & Rudd. A bottled history of spirits. Undated producer’s account; supplied record checked November 2026.
https://www.bbr.com/articles/spirits/a-bottled-history-of-spirits

[3] Berry Bros. & Rudd. History of Berry Bros. & Rudd. Undated producer’s account; supplied record checked November 2026.
https://www.bbr.com/about/history

[4] Whisky Magazine. Cutty Sark whisky marks its 100th year with a limited 23-year-old blend. 2023; supplied record checked November 2026.
https://www.whiskymag.com/articles/cutty-sark-whisky-marks-its-100th-year-with-a-limited-23-year-old-blend/

[5] ScotchWhisky.com. Cutty Sark. Undated trade reference; supplied record checked November 2026.
https://scotchwhisky.com/whiskypedia/2351/cutty-sark/

[6] The Drinks Business. Edrington sells Cutty Sark Scotch whisky brand to La Martiniquaise. November 2018; supplied record checked November 2026.
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2018/11/edrington-sells-cutty-sark-scotch-whisky-brand-to-la-martiniquaise/

[7] DFNI. Edrington sells Cutty Sark Scotch Whisky to La Martiniquaise. 28 November 2018; supplied record checked November 2026.
https://www.dfnionline.com/latest-news/edrington-sells-cutty-sark-scotch-whisky-la-martiniquaise-28-11-2018/

[8] The Spirits Business. Edrington sells Cutty Sark to La Martiniquaise-Bardinet. November 2018; supplied record checked November 2026.
https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2018/11/edrington-sells-cutty-sark-to-la-martiniquaise-bardinet/

[10] Difford’s Guide. The story behind Justerini & Brooks and J&B whisky. Undated trade account; supplied record checked November 2026.
https://www.diffordsguide.com/producer/1142/j-and-b-whisky/story

This desk-researched article uses the supplied verified fact sheet, distinguishing producer accounts, trade reporting and the sheet’s story verdicts; no tasting or visit is implied.

Last checked: November 2026.