John Crabbie

John Crabbie & Co. is an old Edinburgh merchant name, best known to many for Crabbie's ginger wine. The name has its roots in Leith, the port district of Edinburgh, where the firm traded in wines and spirits.

In recent years the name was revived for Scotch whisky by Halewood. The early releases used whisky sourced from other distilleries, such as Crabbie's Yardhead, Crabbie 8, 12 and 30 Year Old, and single cask bottlings of Speyside malt, including a 30 year old from Glenrothes.

The owners also set out to make their own spirit in Leith under the Chain Pier name, which appears in our catalogue as Crabbies Chain Pier. Buyers will also find Lowland single malt, peated and virgin oak bottlings under the John Crabbie label.

Because many Crabbie whiskies were sourced, the character changes from one bottling to the next. The label usually tells you the region and, for older bottlings, the age and cask.