Drink This Whisky... If You Can Find It

Photo by Tony Sachs

I wrote about Tom’s Blend No. 1, an extraordinary whisky from The Last Drop Distillers, a couple of months ago for a package accompanying the bottle on its US debut. For one reason or another, the proposed package never wound up happening. And I’m not entirely sure if Tom’s Blend is available in the States, although you can check out The Last Drop’s website for more details. Regardless, it’s a shame to let finished copy go to waste! So read on, and happy hunting should you decide to score a bottle. You won’t be sorry.

You may not know Tom Jago by name, but you’re definitely well acquainted with his work.  Over a career that spanned more than half a century, Jago had a hand in creating and marketing what became some of the best known spirits in the world, from Bailey’s Irish Cream to Chivas Regal 18 Year Old to Johnnie Walker Blue Label.  But even with a resumé of that caliber, it’s his last decade of work that’s perhaps the most fascinating.  

In 2008, Jago was already in his 80s, and with a lifetime of success and an almost unparalleled reputation in the spirits industry, it wouldn’t have been at all surprising had he decided to retire or take an honorary emeritus title at one of the many brands for which he’d worked. Instead, he decided to set off on one more glorious adventure. Along with fellow spirits titans James Espey and Peter Fleck,  he founded The Last Drop Distillers, a company devoted to seeking out the rarest casks of the highest quality spirits in the world. In 2015, Rebecca Jago and Beanie Espy — Tom and James’ daughters — joined the company, and today they’re continuing the work their fathers started.

Only 17 Last Drop bottlings have been released in the decade-plus they’ve been in business, most of them numbering no more than a few hundred bottles each.  Rather than establish a set schedule for new releases, they choose to bottle a product only when they find something worthy of their high standards, whether it’s a cognac from 1925, a single grain whisky from 1961, or a tawny port from 1870.

Tom’s Blend No. 1 is its first “house pour,” a blended whisky created specifically for the brand. Jago, who died in 2018 at the age of 93, was intimately involved in its creation. His daughter, Rebecca, who’s now the Managing Director of The Last Drop, says, “We put the idea of Tom’s Blend to him and he was instantly captivated. However, he was also very clear that anything bearing his name and his likeness needed to be something he would be proud to put his name to. So, we engaged the services of Charles Maclean, renowned whisky writer and authority, and also the Malt Master at Ian Macleod Distillers, to work with Tom to create a bespoke blend that reflected his tastes and preferences.” The result is an 18 year old blend that’s 50% single malts (blended Scotches typically contain mostly grain whisky) — a combination of sherried Highland malts, sweet Speyside whisky, and a wisp of smoke from Islay.  “My dad was absolutely delighted with the final result,” Rebecca says, “and it was the whisky he drank at 6 o’clock every day from the day we received the first bottles to the day he died.”  Only 1,000 bottles have been made of Tom’s Blend No. 1, and once they’re gone, it will never be recreated.