| Type | Whiskey Distillery |
| Location | Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK |
| Owner(s) | J. Darby (founder), Jock Ewing (possibly) |
| Featured in | Dallas (1978) and many TV shows and films since then |
J. Darby (or just Darby) is a brewery company known for producing their eponymous brand of Scotch whiskey. The company and its drinks were made by Independent Studio Services for the 1978 TV series Dallas and has made frequent cameo appearances in soap operas, sitcoms and several other shows since then.
Overview
- “A Darby Man never says when.”
- ―J. Darby tagline
Jock Ewing with his finest bottle of J. Darby
Darby is an old company seemingly founded by native Scotsman, J. Darby. The whiskey is produced at their original Skadden & Darby Distillery on the Isle of Skye in Scotland and from there it is distributed to many parts of the world. The company was at some point apparently acquired by Jock Ewing, the head of the Ewing Oil Co. enterprise who claimed the brand as his own and he would serve his finest bottles at parties and special events. Ewing's son, J.R. Ewing and Ewing's longtime rival Digger Barnes were also avid J. Darby drinkers.
Logo
The logo and mascot of the company is the legendary Darby Dragon, a large zilant dragon and apparently a symbol or figure of importance within Darby's ancestral family.
J. Darby variants
J. Darby is their main brand of whiskey and alongside it they also produce J. Darby brand bourbon whiskey, J. Darby single malt scotch whiskey and J. Darby purple label.
Appearances
TV Shows
- Dallas (1978) - Semi-Frequent starting with S01, eventually phased out
- The Winds of War (1983) - E06
- Malcolm in the Middle (2000) - S06E20
- NCIS (2003) - S11E07 & S12E15
- Lost (2004) - S01E16 & S02E23
- Bones (2005) - S03E06
- The Office (2005) - S07E20
- Californication (2007) - S06E06
- Sons of Anarchy (2008)
- Life (2009) - S02E14
- The Vampire Diaries (2009) - S03E8, S05E16, S05E08 & S07E12
- Community (2009) - S05E07, S06E01, S06E06, S06E07, S06E09 & S06E12
- Hawaii Five-0 (2010) - S09E06 & S10E13
- Pretty Little Liars (2010) - S06E12
- Last Man Standing (2011) - S04E03
- Nashville (2012) - S06E09 & S06E14
- Ray Donovan (2013) - S03E03 & S04E04
- Bosch (2014) - S02E06
- Black Jesus (2014) - Frequent but played a significant role in S02E08
- Life in Pieces (2015) - S03E14
- Goliath (2016) - S01E02 & S02E02
- Star Trek: Picard (2019) - S02E07
- Dead to Me (2019) - S01E08 & S02E08
Films
- Domestic Disturbance (2001)
- Small Apartments (2012)
- The Good Neighbor (2016)
- Molotov (2019)
- Ava (2020)
Gallery
Dallas
Cameos
Trivia
- The frequent appearances of J. Darby across these shows are not examples of a shared continuity. They are simply the result of the prop makers at Independent Studio Services frequently re-selling the same J. Darby props for convenience.[1][2]
- The only shows the drink played a substantial role in were Dallas and Black Jesus, who also share no connection beyond both being owned by Warner Bros. As such, the article's overview only covers its original appearance on Dallas and whatever information is provided on the bottles by Independent Studio Services.
- Skadden, the purported distillery the whisky is made at mentioned on the later labels of J. Darby and Glencallan, is actually the name of one of the graphics designers at Independent Studio who helped to create some of their props.
- The drink seems to be spoof of Jack Daniel's whiskey, designed to avoid obvious copyright infringement.