Drambuie is a golden-coloured, 40% ABV liqueur made from Scotch whisky, heather honey, herbs and spices. The brand was owned by the MacKinnon family for 100 years, and was bought by William Grant & Sons in 2014. Etymology The name "Drambuie" possibly derives from the Scottish Gaelic phrase an dram buidheach, "the drink that satisfies", a claim made by the original manufacturers of the drink. History Legend After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, Prince Charles Edward Stuart fled to the isle of Skye. There he was given sanctuary by Captain John MacKinnon of Clan MacKinnon. According to family legend, after staying with the captain, the prince rewarded him with this prized drink recipe. This version of events is disputed by historians who believe it to be a story concocted to boost sales of the drink. The legend holds that the recipe, which at that time had no known name, was given by Clan MacKinnon to John Ross in the late 19th century. James Ross, his son and a local business man, ran the Broadford Hotel in Broadford on Skye. It was he who, after the death of John in 1879, began to experiment with the recipe at the hotel. Private production Drambuie is a sweet, golden coloured 40% ABV liqueur made from Scotch whisky, heather honey, herbs and spices. In the 1880s, Ross developed and improved the recipe, changing the original brandy base to one of scotch whisky, initially for his friends and then later for hotel patrons. Ross named the concoction 'Drambuie' and sold it further afield, eventually reaching markets in France and the United States. As the drink became better known, Ross registered the name as a trademark in 1893. When Ross died, his widow Eleanor was obliged to sell the recipe to pay for their children's education, by coincidence to another MacKinnon family. Malcolm MacKinnon (known as Calum) worked with Eleanor Ross to continue to make the elixir and experimented with the recipe mix. By 1912, Macbeth & Son, Calum MacKinnon's employers bought the elixir recipe from the Ross family but the company soon ran into financial problems. in 1914, MacKinnon's fiancee, Gina Russell Davidson, encouraged him to buy the failing business and to create the Drambuie Liquor Company. The couple married in 1915 and Gina MacKinnon became the lone custodian of the Drambuie elixir recipe, and took on the responsibility for collecting the ingredients and