J&B

Type: Blended or sourced brand

On 17 June 1779, the Morning Post carried a merchant's advertisement for “Usquebaugh”, an old word for whisky.[5] The merchant survives as Justerini & Brooks, the London wine and spirits business behind J&B Rare. Its founding dates to 1749; Rare belongs to a different moment, created in the early 1930s for an American audience approaching the end of Prohibition.[3][4][6][7]

J&B at a glance

What J&B is known for

Four Speyside malts sit at the heart of J&B Rare: Knockando, Auchroisk, Strathmill and Glen Spey. The producer names them within a blend of 42 malt and grain whiskies. Rare is the whisky at the centre of the J&B story, distinct from the merchant whose initials it carries.[4]

The producer describes Rare as naturally pale in colour. Its yellow label has a more competitive story: Rare was built to rival Cutty Sark, and adopted a similar label.[5][7]

Verdict: Documented. The rivalry and similar label are recorded.[5][7] The earliest source of the account is not established in the supplied record. Sources: ScotchWhisky.com; Wikipedia. Last checked: November 2026.

A London beginning, not a Scottish founding

J&B's story begins at No. 76 Haymarket in London. Giacomo Justerini came from Bologna and established Johnson & Justerini with George Johnson. Among the firm's early wares were liqueurs made from Justerini's family recipes: the beginnings of a merchant, rather than a Scottish distillery.[1][5][6]

The business dates its foundation to 1749, a year also given in the trade record. It describes itself as Britain's oldest continuous fine wine and spirits merchant and says it has held a Royal Warrant from every monarch since George III in 1761. The claims of continuity and successive warrants come from the merchant's own history.[3]

Justerini's departure is harder to pin down. Accounts place it after one year, about 12 years later, or in 1760. George Johnson's son Augustus took his place as partner, but the departure date remains disputed: the succession supplies a name, not a settled year.[1][5][6]

The opera singer story

Story title: The merchant and the opera singer

Founding story: The business traces its foundation to 1749. Giacomo Justerini and George Johnson established the London partnership.[3][5][6]

Turning point: The merchant's later history extended into a new corporate chapter: in 1962, the business merged with W&A Gilbey to form International Distillers & Vintners.[1][6]

Legend or tradition: Trade histories tell of Justerini following the opera singer Margherita Bellino to London, without his love being returned.[1][5]

Documented record: His arrival from Bologna and partnership with Johnson are recorded.[1][6]

Sources: Merchant history; J&B history; Difford's history; Trade history.

Claim_source_mapping: Founding: [3][5][6]. Turning point: [1][6]. Legend: [1][5]. Documented record: [1][6].

Last checked: 7 November 2026

Legend verdict

• Claim: The unreturned love described above brought Justerini to London.[1][5]
• Verdict: Legend
• What the record shows: His Italian origin and London business partnership.[1][5][6]
• Evidence against or gap: No substantiation of the romantic motive is supplied.
• Earliest known source: Not established from the sources checked.
• Sources: Merchant history; J&B history.
• Last checked: 7 November 2026

How Brooks entered the name

A runaway horse killed George Johnson in 1785. Later, Augustus Johnson II sold the firm to Alfred Brooks, who gave it the name Justerini & Brooks. Accounts disagree over whether the sale took place in 1831 or 1832; neither year is settled.[1][5][6]

The merchant was looking beyond London long before Rare existed. Thomas Walker ran the firm and appointed a New York agent in the 1840s, establishing an American connection well before the later blend. When Brooks retired in 1876, his son-in-law William Cole took over. The business and its leadership were evolving, but J&B Rare was still to come.[1][5]

From wine merchant to house blends

Whisky entered the firm's business before Rare, and French brandy's difficulties form part of the commercial background. Trade history places J&B among the first London merchants to buy mature, bonded whisky stocks in Scotland, linking that move to the damage phylloxera caused to French brandy.[1]

One early house blend was J&B Club, supplied through J. G. Thomson of Edinburgh. Andrew Usher blended the whisky that became Club. This was an earlier blending relationship and a distinct product, an important distinction when following the firm's whisky history through its changing names. Club's place in that history does not establish that Rare's later recipe already existed.[1][5]

In 1900, the firm was sold to a new company chaired by Alexander Cecil Newbigging. Eddie Tatham joined in 1918 and became a director in 1926. These changes bridge the older merchant business and the people involved as the twentieth-century Rare story approached.[5]

J&B Rare and the American market

J&B Rare was created for an American opportunity. The producer dates it to the early 1930s; the trade account describes a blend designed for the American palate ahead of the end of Prohibition. Its blender was Charlie Julian, a Londoner, and its competitive target was Cutty Sark. This was a new whisky for a particular market, rather than an eighteenth-century recipe carried forward.[4][5][7]

The historical account gives the 1932 recipe as 42 whiskies, with malts accounting for 40% of them. That is a description of the recorded recipe, not a current production specification. The producer's separate description also names 42 malt and grain whiskies, but does not establish that every component has remained unchanged.[4][5]

The whisky's first name was Justerini and Brooks Rare Old, later shortened to J&B Rare with its yellow label. Charlie Guttman's Paddington Corporation became the American agent. The sequence is clear, although the exact year of the name change is not established: the longer name came first, followed by the initials and later presentation.[5]

Three mistakes to avoid

• The J means Johnson. It means Justerini. Johnson was the original partner's surname, preserved in the earlier Johnson & Justerini business. That earlier partnership explains the possible confusion, but J&B refers to the later Justerini & Brooks name, not the names of the first two partners.[5][6]
• J&B began as a Scottish firm. Its roots are in London, where an Italian founder and an English partner established the merchant business. Scotland enters the story through the whisky the firm later supplied and developed. The original shop was in Haymarket, not Scotland.[3][5][6]
• J&B Rare dates from 1749. That is the merchant's founding year. The producer dates Rare to the early 1930s, when the old merchant name was applied to a whisky developed for a different market and commercial moment. The business and the blend have separate beginnings.[3][4]

Reading the names in J&B's history

A merchant's name and a blend's name tell different stories. Johnson & Justerini identifies the early partnership; Justerini & Brooks is the renamed merchant; J&B Rare is the later whisky. J&B Club belongs to the earlier house-blend history, while Justerini and Brooks Rare Old was Rare's first name. Those distinctions help organise old advertisements and historical references without treating every variation as the same product.[1][5][6]

The 1779 advertisement quoted at the start establishes a whisky reference in the merchant's eighteenth-century record. It does not establish the existence of J&B Rare or provide a shortcut between that reference and the later Club and Rare names.[5]

Where to go next

• Cutty Sark: the blend Rare was built to rival.
• Johnnie Walker: another name in the Scotch blends hub.
• Chivas Regal: a companion brand history within Scotch blends.

Sources

Source numbers retain those in the supplied fact sheet.

1. Justerini & Brooks. Our History. Undated web edition, producer's account; publication year not supplied. https://www.justerinis.com/about-us/our-history. Fact-sheet check: November 2026.
2. Whisky Auctioneer. Justerini & Brooks. Undated web edition, trade source; publication year not supplied. https://whiskyauctioneer.com/learn/explore-whisky/companies/justerini-brooks. Fact-sheet check: November 2026.
3. ScotchWhisky.com. Justerini & Brooks. Undated web edition, trade source; publication year not supplied. https://scotchwhisky.com/whiskypedia/4816/justerini-brooks/. Fact-sheet check: November 2026.
4. ScotchWhisky.com. J&B. Undated web edition, trade source; publication year not supplied. https://scotchwhisky.com/whiskypedia/2419/j-b/. Fact-sheet check: November 2026.
5. Difford's Guide. The story behind Justerini & Brooks and J&B whisky. Undated web edition, trade source; publication year not supplied. https://www.diffordsguide.com/producer/1142/j-and-b-whisky/story. Fact-sheet check: November 2026.
6. Wikipedia contributors. Justerini & Brooks. Revision identifier and publication year not supplied. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justerini_&_Brooks. Fact-sheet check: November 2026.

This article was prepared as desk research from fact sheet TOP-A250 and its listed references, without a site tasting or visit.

Last checked: November 2026