Mackie & Co

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Founded

1890

Company type

Blender, Distiller

The Mackie family were one of the “big five” names in 19th century blended Scotch, alongside the Walkers, Dewars, Haigs and Buchanans. The company was formed out of the reorganisation of James Logan Mackie & Co in 1890 after its founder’s nephew, the famously fiery Sir Peter Mackie, was installed as a partner the previous year.

The company launched its flagship blend the following year, which Mackie named the White Horse Cellar in reference to the family’s long association with the old coaching inn on Edinburgh’s Canongate. The company’s main distillery was Lagavulin, however under Peter Mackie’s watch they also partnered in the construction of Craigellachie, and built the near-mythical Malt Mill in 1908. Mackie & Co became White Horse Distillers following Sir Peter Mackie’s death in 1924.

1890

Founded

History

Sir Peter Mackie joined his uncle’s James Logan Mackie & Co in 1878, and was promptly dispatched to its Islay distillery, Lagavulin to learn the art of its distilling process. The subsequent decade saw it introduce its first blends, which were hugely popular due to their distinctive heart of Lagavulin malt. Sir Peter was made a partner in the company in 1889, and reorganised it as Mackie & Co the following year.

The company then expanded its portfolio by investing in the establishment of Craigellachie distillery, another producer known for the bold flavour profile of its spirit. The venture was a joint-endeavour with Alexander Edward, although the company acquired it fully after the end of the first world war. Around the same time, they also bought Hazelburn distillery and rounding off their portfolio was Malt Mill, built in 1908 and catapulted into the mainstream conscious in 2012 after the discovery of one of its errant casks was the subject of Ken Loach film, The Angels’ Share. In reality no known Malt Mill single malt exists, and none was ever bottled unblended. Only short-lived, it was shut down by the Distillers Company Limited in 1962.

Mackie & Co’s distilling operations were fully in support of its blends, and none were more popular than its flagship White Horse Cellar brand, launched in 1891 and still marketed by Diageo today. The appeal of its products made the company one of Scotland’s “big five” blenders, with whom they fiercely opposed the creeping expansion of The Distillers Company Limited. Established in 1877, it put a stranglehold on the blended Scotch trade, eventually controlling around 70% of the domestic and international market. Sir Peter Mackie perhaps stood firmest in the face of DCL’s aggressive expansion policy, and mercifully only live to see John Haig & Co succumb to its advances. He died in 1924, with the company becoming White Horse Distillers shortly after, one of the few Scotch whisky companies to be named after one of its products. The new entity was folded into DCL just three years later.