In 1749, Justerini, originally from Bologna, moved to London to set up a wine-selling business with his partner George Johnson. The business was bought in 1831 by Alfred Brooks, who renamed it Justerini & Brooks. In response to whisky’‘s growing popularity in the 1880s, Justerini & Brooks released its own blend. It was a huge hit in the American market after Prohibition, where it gave Cutty Sark a run for its money. The business joined International Distillers & Vintners in 1962, then United Distillers & Vintners (UDV, a Diageo subsidiary) in 1997.

A magnum of J&B Rare. J&B was created in the early 1930s to compete with Cutty Sark in the American market by Justerini & Brooks, a wine and whisky merchant established in London in 1749 by Giacomo Justerini, an Italian migrant from Bologna. It gained the success he hoped for and has sold over a million cases per year since 1963.