Whyte & Mackay Special

Product of: United Kingdom

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The whisky blending firm of Whyte & Mackay was founded in Glasgow docks in 1844 by James Whyte and Charles Mackay. They created their new ‘Special’ blend from a vatting of more than 35 malt whiskies from all four of Scotland’s regions.

Since those early days the iconic symbol of Whyte & Mackay has been a pair of red lions. The origins of this are partly explained by the history of Scotland’s clans. During the reign of David II, the Campbells acquired legal title to the Macgregor lands of Glenorchy resulting in the Macgregors expulsion of their own territory. They became an outlawed and landless clan. An act of the privy council in 1603 further castigated the clan by requiring all those named Macgregor, on pain of death, to adopt another surname. Hence many of the clan assumed the name Whyte. The founders of Whyte & Mackay took the lion from the Macgregor crest with the Lion Rampant of Scotland as their emblem.