The history of Diageo and its brands

1608 Licence granted to Bushmills area of County Antrim, Ireland

1749 Johnson & Justerini, the original company that became Justerini & Brooks in 1831, is founded

1758 José Antonio Cuervo produces tequila on local land in Mexico granted to him by the King of Spain

1759 Arthur Guinness (above) signs a 9,000 year lease on a disused brewery at St. James’s Gate, Dublin

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1820 John Walker’s grocery business opens in Kilmarnock, Scotland

1830 Charles Tanqueray opens a gin mmdistillery in London

1840 Pimm’s originates in an oyster bar in Poultry Street, London, owned
by James Pimm (above)

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1860 PA Smirnoff opens distillery in Russia and begins making his own vodka

1886 Guinness becomes first major brewery to be incorporated as a public company on the London Stock Exchange.During this time it is the largest brewery in the world with an annual production of 1.2 million barrels

PA Smirnoff is named Purveyor to the Imperial Russian Court (above)

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1908 Tom Browne draws the first Johnnie Walker Striding Man figure (above)

1909 John Walker & Sons introduces Johnnie Walker Black Label and Johnnie Walker Red Label

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1931 J&B Rare launched

1932 Sir Alexander Walker creates Swing, a unique bottle designed for travel by ocean liner

1939 Crown Royal created to celebrate the historic visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Canada. Special Reserve introduced in 1991 and XR created in 2005

1959 Guinness Draught is launched in Great Britain as Guinness celebrates its bicentenary

1962 Smirnoff appears in its first James Bond movie ‘Dr No’

1974 Launch of Baileys, widely regarded as the industry’s most successful product launch ever (above)

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1983 Launch of Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum. 1996 Captain Morgan’s Parrot Bay launched

1988 The first ‘widget’beer, Guinness Draught in Cans, is launched.Three
years later it wins The Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement

1989 Cragganmore, Dalwhinnie, Glenkinchie, Lagavulin,Oban and Talisker become the six Classic Malts (above)

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1992 Creation of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, using some of the rarest and most expensive whiskies. In 2006 an ultra premium Johnnie Walker Blue Label called King George V is introduced (above)

1992 Guinness Irish Pub Concept is launched to promote authentic Irish pubs overseas. Today almost 2,000 exist in about 50 countries

1995 Johnnie Walker Gold Label launched

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1997 Merger of Guinness and GrandMet to form Diageo (above)

1998 Launch of Bulleit bourbon

Launch of Guinness Draught Extra Cold

1999 ‘Keep Walking,’ the first global advertising campaign for Johnnie Walker, introduced

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2000 Guinness ‘Surfer’ advert voted best television commercial of all time in a UK poll conducted by The Sunday Times and Channel 4

Launch of Tanqueray No.TEN

2001 Diageo acquires brands including Captain Morgan, Crown Royal and Sterling Vineyards from The Seagram Company Ltd

2003 Launch of Cîroc vodka

2005 Johnnie Walker begins Grand Prix sponsorship of Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

Acquisition of Bushmills Irish whiskey (above) and The Chalone Wine Group

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2006 Smirnoff is the world’s best selling premium spirit at over 23 million cases annually and is featured in the James Bond movie, ‘Casino Royale’

Baileys flavours, mint chocolate and caramel, launch

2007 Johnnie Walker reaches 15 million case sales annually and becomes the third best selling premium spirit in the world

Diageo announces £100 million scotch whisky investment (above)

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Quicklinks

1608 - 1799
1800 - 1859
1860 - 1899
1900 - 1909
1910 - 1979
1980 - 1989
1990 - 1996
1997 - 1996
2000 - 2005
2006 - 2007