James Eadie Ltd was established in 1854. Born to a family of brewers and distillers in Blackford, Mr. Eadie founded his company at the age of 27 and continued his family’s proud tradition of blending Scotch whisky. Under his famous Trade Mark ‘X’ – one of the world’s oldest trade marks at 148 years old – Mr. Eadie’s whisky was made until 1947. 

After lying dormant for 70 years, Rupert Patrick revived his great-great-grandfather’s company. Armed with Mr. Eadie’s 19th century ledgers and one of the last bottles from the 1940s, they painstakingly resurrected his lightly-peated, old-style blend, Trade Mark ‘X’ using only whisky from distilleries James Eadie himself purchased from 125 years ago. Carefully assembled by Master Blender Norman Mathison, it has gone on to win Gold Medals at the World Whisky Awards, IWSC and ISC.

As well as Trade Mark ‘X’, James Eadie are well-regarded as independent bottlers, who are unique for putting methodical historical research at the core of all their products. Their Cask Finish range exclusively uses the same casks that were in Mr. Eadie’s 19th century warehouses – Sherry, Madeira, Marsala, Malaga and Brandy – for a final maturation period, with an emphasis placed on achieving harmony between wood and spirit. Their Small Batch range, which focuses on distillery character, uses the names of Mr. Eadie’s 250 pubs to inspire their labels. And they have even re-published two long-forgotten texts from the 1920s – ‘The Distilleries of Great Britain & Ireland, 1922-1929’ and ‘The Distillation of Whisky, 1927-1931’ – which revealed many fascinating insights into the whisky of 100 years ago.

Not content with looking into the past, their latest venture, Project 1927, is an attempt to produce 1920s-style whisky with six of Scotland’s best new distilleries. Keep an eye out for how it develops over the coming years.