Johnny Cree Single Malt Whisky

There's a new whisky on the shelves. I spotted this in Morrisons for the not too shabby price of £22. This is a single malt which hails from Leith's Bonnington Distillery.

Now, as some of you know, this distillery has a very strong historical connection to one of the biggest Scotch whisky merchants of all time. And that is, of course, John Crabbie.

So, this then begs the question: who on earth is Johnny Cree?

The gravestone of John Crabbie is in Edinburgh's Dean Cemetery. Crabbie was one of the biggest Scotch whisky blenders and merchants of the 19th century. Now, the inscription states that John Crabbie died in 1891.

But if you pick up a bottle of Crabbie whisky - whether old or new - you'll see that it's stated that the firm was established in 1801.

John Crabbie, however, wasn't born until 1806. Now, it's pretty difficult to start a company when you're minus 5 years old!

So where does this date of 1801 come from?

John Crabbie actually started his business in 1832 and four years later, he went into partnership with another Leith wine and spirit merchant called William Cree. In that same year - 1836 - Crabbie & Cree took over the business of James Wyld & Co which was based over on Tollbooth Wynd. Now, that business - James Wyld & Co - was established in 1801 and so it's this date that was stated on the bottles and has been ever since.

John Crabbie and his wife Margaret had eight children and two of his sons continued to play a prominent role in the business. When he died, his eldest son - John Miller Crabbie - who is also buried in the same plot, became the director of the business.

After Distillers Company Limited - the precursor to today's Diageo - had purchased Caledonian Distillery, some of the Edinburgh and Leith blenders started to get a wee bit angsty; they were worried that DCL would be able to hold them to ransom regarding the purchase of grain whisky. And so a bunch of them, including William Sanderson of VAT69 fame and Andrew Usher as well as John Miller Crabbie, joined forces to establish the North British Distillery in Edinburgh. Ironically, North British Distillery today is partly owned by Diageo.

But John Miller Crabbie only outlived his father by 7 years. He caught a chill, which developed into pneumonia, finishing him off at just 63 years of age. His son, also called John - this is how things become confusing - was pursuing a military career and so wasn't involved or particularly interested in running the business. Therefore, that fell to John's youngest son, George, who eventually became chairman of the firm and who's also buried alongside his father, together with his wife and his daughter Ada.

Now George also had three sons: George Ernest, John Edward and William Crabbie.

After serving in the First World War, William worked in the family business and just like his father before him, eventually became chairman of the firm.

This is all very well and good but I've still not answered the question: who was Johnny Cree?

Well, remember William Cree who became John Crabbie's partner back in 1836?

He had a son called James who also became a wine and spirit merchant in Leith. And James is also buried in Dean Cemetery. Buried for the second time that is!

The first time was in 1891 in New Mexico after he had invested in the Angus V V ranch. And at some point between then and 1908, he was dug up and reburied here.

Now, James's wife was Agnes Paxton Cree. But her maiden name was Crabbie. They married in 1853 which was around the same time that Agnes' father - John Crabbie - acquired Yardheads in Leith. Agnes was John Crabbie's eldest daughter and, after marrying James, they had three children together.

James and Agnes, together with one of their children - James - all set off to New Mexico. In this photo of the three of them - from the New Mexico State University Library Archives - you can see that the latter has mistakenly been named Johnny.

And so it's John Crabbie's grandson, James, who is Johnny Cree!