Distillery
Old Parr
Thomas Parr, an Englishman nicknamed Old Tom Parr, was reputed to have lived 152 years before his death in 1635. James and Samuel Greenlees named a blend of aged malts from Scotland after him, launching Old Parr in 1909. The label was renamed Grand Old Parr in 1941, styled after his own venerable age. The blend is built around Cragganmore malt, with Glendullan added as a major component since the Second World War. Diageo owns the brand today, part of the DCL lineage that dates back to 1925. Old Parr disappeared from British shelves decades ago, kept alive instead by drinkers abroad. Its real home became Latin America, especially Colombia, where costeños on the north coast still treat it as their whisky of choice. The bond runs deep enough that Colombian musicians have written folk songs about the brand. Even the label endures unchanged, still showing Rubens's portrait of old Tom Parr himself.
