King's Ransom 12-year-old Scotch Whisky miniature.
King's Ransom 12-year-old Scotch Whisky miniature...
Condition: Old & Rare, Vintage, Collector.-Please note as this is a vintage/rare/limited edition bottle, conditions of bottle/label and liquid level can vary - Some years can vary and as estimations only (example: estimated 1970s/80s).
Lost Distillery/Brand: Yes, Lost Brand.
Fill level: Near full, extremely good for age.
Whisky still produced: Now discontinued.
Category: Blended Scotch Whisky.
Distillery: Not in production.
Bottler: William Whiteley & Co.
Bottling series: Miniature.
Bottling Year: Late 1970s-early 1980s.
Stated Age: 12 years old.
Cask type: Not stated.
Strength: 43.0 % Vol.
Size: 40 ml.
Colouring: Assumed yes, as it was normal for the era.
Chill-filtered: Assumed yes, as it was normal for the period.
Bottle code: Not applicable for era.
Country Origin: Scotland.
Market: Export markets, popular in the USA and Europe.
King’s Ransom was a prestigious blended Scotch whisky created by William Whiteley & Co., renowned for producing high-quality aged blends during the mid-1900s. The 12-Year-Old miniature is a sought-after collector’s piece that reflects the brand’s once-celebrated reputation for smooth, premium Scotch.
William Whiteley, a respected whisky blender and merchant known for crafting premium aged blends for export markets. Among his most notable creations was King’s Ransom, positioned as a luxury Scotch enjoyed in America, Europe, and beyond during the mid-20th century. Whiteley’s blends, including the more exclusive House of Lords line, were known for their quality and were frequently marketed as high-status alternatives to other premium brands of the era. After the company ceased operations, King’s Ransom faded into the ranks of collectible ‘lost’ blends, prized by connoisseurs for their glimpse into the golden age of post-war Scotch whisky trade.
Tasting notes;
Appearance/colour: Deep gold.
Nose: Elegant aromas of soft malt, honey, and light oak spice.
Palate: Smooth and mellow, with notes of sweet grain, dried fruit, and subtle smoke.
Finish: Medium, rounded, with a gentle warmth.
In his colourful career, the small-time whisky baron William Whiteley launched nearly 50 Scotch brands, owned Edradour and had the infamous Mafia boss, Frank Costello, as his US ‘sales consultant’ during Prohibition.
King’s Ransom was Whiteley’s pride and joy, aimed at the luxury American market with its squat, square-shaped bottle and colourful label that included the words ‘Round the World’. Adverts from the 1960s explained how the whisky was carried as ballast in Ocean-going liners and that the rocking motion at sea helped marry its component parts.
It is said that a bottle of this De-Luxe Blend stood on the table where US President Harry Truman, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, sat at when they signed the Potsdam Treaty to discuss how to run Germany after the Second World War.
Bottler History:
Yorkshire-born William Whiteley was 67 when he created his flagship blend, King’s Ransom, in 1928. With Frank Costello as his US agent it was doubtless being sipped in the speakeasy bars of Prohibition America.
The core of the blend was said to be Edradour, the tiny Perthshire distillery that Whiteley acquired for £1,050 in 1933. When he died in 1941, Costello’s associate Irving Haim took over the distillery, while Costello and his firm took a share of sales of King’s Ransom. This unusual arrangement continued until Haim’s death in 1976.
Six years later Pernod Ricard’s then Scotch whisky arm, Campbell Distillers, bought Edradour and the three remaining William Whiteley brands. Among them was the King’s Ransom, which was discontinued in the 1980s.
CERTIFICATIONS AND AWARDS
No modern certifications. King’s Ransom was regarded as a premium export Scotch and advertised as an award-winning blend during its peak years.
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