🥃 Ballantyne not Ballantine
- Jun 19
- 3 min read
Scotch Whisky In The Borders
Just yesterday, I stumbled upon another Borders Scotch whisky name that was entirely new to me: Walter Ballantyne. I came across it by chance, thanks to a crate proudly on display in the visitor centre shop at The Borders Distillery.
Walter Ballantyne & Son was once based in St Boswells - right where Main Street Trading stands today. If you don’t know Main Street Trading, it’s a small slice of heaven: books, cheese, spirits, and the best scones you’ll ever taste, all under one roof.
The Ballantyne business started life as a modest grocer and wine merchant in 1836, eventually growing into a full-blown department store selling everything from booze to beds. Walter Ballantyne himself was born in 1806 and died in 1891. He had five sons - one of whom, also called Walter, inherited the business. The other surviving sons each received £50 in his will. Unsurprisingly, one of them - Thomas - wasn’t too pleased and took legal action against his brother for a greater share. From what I’ve gathered in the newspaper archives, the court ruled in Thomas’ favour.
Walter Junior expanded the business, and when he died in 1901, the business passed to his own son - yes, you guessed it, another Walter. Although to avoid confusion, let’s call this one Walter Edward, as that was his middle name. He was later joined by his brother James Kerr Ballantyne, and then by James’s sons, Walter and Norman.
Walter Edward travelled widely across France, Spain, and Portugal, sourcing wine, brandy, sherry, and port to sell back home in St Boswells. Naturally, they also sold Scotch whisky. Ballantyne had blended their own whiskies in the cellar beneath the shop since 1875. Among their creations were blends such as "Signature" - as marked on the crate I saw - and "V.C.O." (Very Choice Old).
Their V.C.O. blend was mentioned in the War Office Times and Naval Review in 1909 in relation to the famous "What is Whisky?" case (but more of that in a future newsletter). The article praised it as:
"In our opinion the best Scotch whisky offered to the public at present is the 'V.C.O.' Special Highland Liqueur Whisky of Messrs. W.E. Ballantyne ... Scotch whisky blenders and exporters, a firm with nearly three quarters of a century of reputation, established as far back as 1836... The Lancet, after analysing this whisky, pronounced it to be all malt spirit, well matured, and possessing a fine delicate flavour. It represents all that true matured whisky should be... this unsurpassed V.C.O. Whisky possesses a delicacy of flavour and bouquet, a mellowness and softness emphatically unattained by any other whisky. We commend it to our readers for naval and military messes."
Of course, you couldn’t get away with anything close to this these days 😆
In 1911, The Whitehall Review named Walter Ballantyne’s “The Hunting Squire” as the ideal whisky for sportsmen - a carefully selected blend of the finest old Scotch whiskies. Much of this whisky was sold in sturdy 1–2 gallon stoneware jars to estate owners in the surrounding area. In case you didn’t know, St Boswells is quite posh. And I reckon it always has been.
As Ballantyne’s expanded into the US, blending and bottling shifted to the larger facility of William Muir Bond No.9 - because, as I always say, all whisky roads lead to Leith.
But here’s the snag: by that time, the Ballantine’s brand - owned by the giant Seagrams - was already well established in the States. Seagrams launched a copyright dispute against Ballantyne. Rather than engage in an expensive legal battle, Walter Ballantyne changed the export label to "The St Boswells Whisky Company" - a name it kept for the US market until the business finally closed in 1978.
Incidentally, a bottle of that Lagavulin (in the above newspaper ad) was sold at auction at the end of 2021, fetching a staggering £11,500. The auction house was Ramsay Cornish which is located in… Leith.
You see, all whisky roads and all that.
Slàinte! Justine