Alfred Barnard - The Whisky Distilleries Of The United Kingdom

With so much to come in the November auction, our 44th to date, I thought I'd give you a little preview of a rather special lot we'll be including.  It is a a first edition of this legendary book; The Whisky Distilleries Of The United Kingdom.  Published in the late 1880s, there are only a precious few left of this original publication in existence and we're very excited to be auctioning such a find.

But who was Alfred Barnard and why is this book so important?  Well if you're sitting comfortably, then I'll begin!

The legendary tome

I should start out by saying that it seems Alfred was a private man as there isn't a huge amount known about him. (even Wikipedia is brief)  Born in Thaxted, Essex on 8th May 1837,  he was the sixth of seven boys and one of eight children in the family.  Over the years and through several censuses we can see that he adopted varying professions from soap exporter, merchant, gentleman and journalist.  He married at 22 years of age to Fanny Ruffle and they had 3 children.  In 1877 we find him as a "wine merchant", an indicator of his connections to the industry and travels to come.  

While he was missing from subsequent censuses, it seems that around the 1880s he became a journalist for Harper's Weekly Gazette.  The Gazette doesn't name it's reporters but the first reference to Bernard is found in an 1887 where the idea of the trip to all the distilleries is mentioned.

The trip was meticulously documented, Barnard was fascinated by the process and life of the distilleries.  If you read the book it's quite clear that to start with he wasn't overly familiar with distilleries or how whisky is produced, but he quickly picks this up.  For me, the real joy in this book comes with his noting of all sort of things I'd never consider reporting on.  For example, Dundashill distillery here in Glasgow is noted as having a dairy farm with "over four hundred milch cows" and notes that one time there were a thousand of them.  He seems impressed that they were fed the draff from the distillery.  It is definitely a sign of the age that he comments on their travel so frequently.  Not all of it is positive, "we found the coach drive from Port Ellen to Bowmore on of the most uninteresting that we had ever experienced... Fortunately we were a large party and a merry one or we should have wearied of this dismal track long before we reached our destination."

 It strikes me as noteworthy that much of his travel was done by steam train.  This is something that wouldn't be possible these days, with much of the rail infrastructure having been scrapped.  Not to mention the distilleries which are no longer there.  Other inventions of the age which he comments on are the steam trains which were often the power sources for the distilleries.  I really enjoy the narrative style of his writing and these little comments make the journey along with him all the more enjoyable.

The finished book was published during March 1887 at the price of one guinea and by all accounts was a success.  Original copies of the book are still around today, I already mentioned there is one in this month's auction, but they are incredibly rare.  Since then there have been other reprints of the book, the latest ones with introduction from Richard Joynson, formerly of Loch Fyne whiskies.

Barnard then took off to complete a journey of the breweries in the United Kingdom.  “The kind and flattering reception, which was accorded to my work on the “Whisky Distilleries of the United
Kingdom”, prompted me to make a similar tour among the noted Breweries. The work which I now commit to the press, with becoming solicitude as to its reception, has occupied me for nearly two years, during which time I have visited the principal establishments in England, Ireland, and Scotland".  He also published a couple of pamphlets on some of the larger distilleries; there is a feature on "John Walker & Sons" as well as "Dalmore - a celebrated Highland Distillery".  These include photographs, providing a glimpse into the distilleries of old.

It's a shame that having completed such prolific journey, Barnard seems to have disappeared.  There is very little known about his life except the odd census information and a couple of commissions for writing.  It seems that life was hard for him, with family tragedies and the collapse of Harpers which lost him his livelihood and investments.  He died in May 1918 and is buried in Croydon, along with his wife.

This canter through his life does not really do justice to how well put together his books are.  My advice is to go out and get a copy and read for yourself the journey.  Or better still, bid on an original copy in the auction.

Alfred Barnard

I wonder what he would make of the industry now.  Or even the trains!  I think he'd be thrilled to see the way whisky tourism has bloomed and that there are many thousands of people every year who set out on their own pilgrimages to pay their respects at the distilleries of Scotland.  The book ends with

"For we could do no less than drink

A glass of this immortal drink"

Well said Sir!

Rare Malts Selection Whiskies

The 43rd auction here at SWA is the biggest we've held. So with such a lot of bottles to look at, we've decided to focus on a few of the older Diageo collections and see what the ranges hold.  This month we've got lots of lovely Rare Malts bottles so it seemed like a good place to start!

Rare Malts Selection

This range predates Diageo as it was launched in 1995, when it was first released by United Distillers & Vintners Ltd (UDV). Initially intended to be for the Global Tax Free market, this was quickly expanded when UDV merged to eventually settle as Diageo. Soon you could find the RMS in all good specialist shops.  This range shows an interesting look at the very old malts which were available at the time.  

RMS creator Mike Collings, created the range with the specific intention that not only would the malts be of "unsurpassed excellence and rarity" but also of a consistency which would become recognised over time.  Indeed it did, with also every release winning a medal or achieving at least some form of commendation. From the very outset this was a range of exceptionally high quality, with many malts achieving Gold medals at the International Wine and Spirits Competition over the years. Most notable is probably the Glenury Royal 1971 23 year old, winning the overall trophy for Best Single Malt over twelve years old and the Ian Mitchell Memorial Trophy for Most Outstanding Single Malt Scotch Whisky in 1996. 

Plenty of awards then, but what does the range actually consist of? Here are some quick stats for you:

• Releases from 1995 - 2005
• 121 releases from 36 distilleries
• Whiskies ages range from 18 to 30 years old
• Predominantly for Europe, but some releases for North America and South Africa.

Between 1995 and 1998 the Malts were released twice a year, with one in Spring and two joint releases in Autumn, one for each market.  This supply of high quality aged stocks could not be maintained and eventually the releases became annual, from 1999 onwards.  This Dallas Dhu is from the very first release in 1995 and was in our auction a couple of months ago.  

You can tell this Dallas Dhu is from the 1995 releases as there is no bottle number, instead "limited bottling" is printed at the bottom of the label.  From 1997 onwards the labels also told us when the whisky had been bottled as well as the distillation year.  

Port Ellen 1978 22 year old, 60.5% ABV, from the 2000 release

The iconic blue cartons of the range had always remained the same, albeit with slight variations on the labels as with the bottles over the progression of the collection.  However the releases for the North American and South African markets were released as "bottle only" and no cartons were made.  Some of the 750ml bottles were released in selected European markets and there are cartons for these bottles. 

There are two other packaging styles.  The first is unofficial and for 9 versions of malts from RMS which were  repackaged into wooden boxes by Dutch retail chain Gall & Gall.  This occurred between 1998 and 1999 and was not repeated.  

Teaninch 1973 23 year old, 57.1% ABV

The other change in packaging comes from the two releases of 200ml bottles.  Two separate packs of these whiskies were released, one in 1995 and one in 1996.  This collection is from the second release in 1996 and was in the auction a few months ago.  

1996 release of the Rare Malts Collection 5 x 200ml set

These sets are not often seen on the market any more.  We're quite lucky here at SWA because we see these rare bottles on a regular basis, which may give the illusion that they are more readily available than they really are out in the "wilds" of the whisky world!

At one point, a bottle stand in which you could present your 4 favourite 700ml bottles was made and distributed in the UK and France, but this was not made available for a long period of time.  There are similar stands available for the Classic Malts collection whiskies from Diageo.  

Most of the releases are unique, in that there is no 750ml counterpart to the 700ml releases.  One exception to this is the multi award winning Glenury Royal 1971 23 year old 61.3% ABV which was released in 700ml and 750ml bottles.  In fact we had bottle number one in the 42nd auction!

Glenury Royal 1971 23 year old 61.3% ABV, bottle number 0001

The average bottle release was 5,000-6,000 bottles although there were some releases as large as 12,000 bottles.  Certainly by some modern release sizes, these are really quite small.  For example, the first release of Highland Park's Thor was 19,000 bottles and it's something of a joke in the office that some "exclusive" and "limited" Bruichladdich releases are just 24,000 bottles.  (There's a whole separate blog post about release sizes but we'll leave that for another day.)  

It seems a real shame that the collection was stopped in 2005, there are some who believe that this halt is merely a hiatus in release and that part two is yet to come.  With such a highly acclaimed set of malts, it would be good to see a revival of them in a time when so many distilleries are releasing non age statement whiskies, moving away from being able to put vintages on their whiskies.  (And again, there's another post in that too!)

If you want to learn more about the range, I can't recommend the Rare Malts Facts, Figures and Tastes book by Ulf Buxrud enough.  He gives a fantastic over view of the range along with analysis of each of the 36 distilleries and the versions of the malts released.    But all that reading might make you thirsty, in which case you'll want to come back to Scotch Whisky Auctions to see what we've got to offer.  Believe me, there are plenty Rare Malts to choose from.  And maybe a few other bottles...  

Whatever your whisky preference is, www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com is the place to be on 24th October! 

Missing anything?

Sometimes it can be easy to miss a gem in an auction. Even we get surprises when we look through the bottles once the auction is live.  Yes, Big Peatrie has selected his big bottles and finished his vlog and we've all found some bargains in the auction too.  But do you ever wonder "... what did I miss?"

Fear not! We've got a few bottles lined up that maybe need their time to shine.  So in no particular order, here are a few more that we think you should give a second look to.

Ladyburn 

We've actually got two entries from this distillery. Ladyburn is the less known sibling of the William Grant empire.  Back in 1963, Girvan grain distillery was built and a decision was made to build another malt distillery on the same site.  This was named Ladyburn and was equipped with 2 stills.  They experimented with continuous mashing, although this was not too successful.  The whisky produced was destined for Grant's whisky.  However the life of the distillery was short lived, with the doors being closed for the last time in 1975, with the final distillation completing on 15th November and the distillery was dismantled in the 1980s.

This old bottling dates from the early 1980s.  Our other official bottling of Ladyburn is this one:

This release is the last official release of Ladyburn.  There are some independent bottlings, usually under the name "Ayrshire" or "Rare Ayrshire" and we have one bottle by Duncan Taylor in this month's auction too.

Cutty Sark Tam O'Shanter

Continuing on an Ayrshire based theme, this is a special edition of Cutty Sark.  Quiet a few of us in the office are very taken with this bottling, especially the book that comes with it.  Tam O’Shanter is a poem by beloved Scottish poet Robert Burns and it is this poem which inspired the naming of the Cutty Sark Clipper and Cutty Sark original Scotch whisky. The artwork in the book is by Scottish artist Alexander Goudie.  Well worth a look if you've missed it.

Balvenie Rose 1st Edition

The story behind this bottle comes from well before the distillery was even thought of!  Near to the distillery is Balvenie Castle, famous for having its rent fixed at a singe red rose back in 1640.  The red rose was paid by Margret Douglas to the King as the rent, a deal we are sure can't be matched these days.  This 1st edition was made up of 3 bourbon casks that were transferred to a first fill port pipe for a final period of maturation.  Just 426 bottles were made, so this is quite a rare beauty indeed.

We wouldn't mind a bottle of this instead of the red rose!

So that should do you all for now. We know that there is plenty for everyone in this auction.  So if you could all form an orderly queue back to the auction.  No need for pushing and shoving as you've got until Sunday!

Jump to the auction or alternatively drop us a tweet or head over to facebook to see what the chat is over there.

Just remember: Don't lose your bottle!

A new auction and a new blog!

Welcome to the new Scotch Whisky Auctions blog.  We're hoping to bring you previews of upcoming auctions as well as news from HQ, as well as our all important Big Peatrie vlogs.

So what's in this month's auction?  First of all, we wanted to mention our very special collection of Black & White bottlings, the oldest going back to 1932.  An incredible bottle which even comes with the original Christmas box, wishing the recipient "greetings and good cheer".

But what if your tastes are something more modern?  Well fear not, there is something for everyone here!

A lot more up to date but still unusual comes in the guide of the SMWS 26 malts collection.  There's an  interesting story behind the creation of this collection.  In 2005, 26 writers were randomly paired up with 26 designers from the UK's leading agencies. Each creative pair receiving their own SMWS single cask bottling.  These bottles formed a collection, of which there were just 20 released.  Here at SWA we've had a set in the auction before, but we were really excited to have another.  Big Peatrie really liked this set, saying that he wouldn't mind having a copy of the print hung on his wall in the SWA croft!

The start of a really good party

There's real humour in the labels, particular highlights include "Cheap industrial cooking whisky" which "removes stubborn limescale" with instructions underneath in smaller print advising that you leave the bottle on a high shelf where your friends won't accidentally drink your fine whisky!

My kind of household product!

These two are only 2 lots in this month's auction, there are literally hundreds more for you to look at, mull over and bid on.  Just before you head over, here's a few words from Big Peatrie himself:




As ever we're facebooking and twittering too, so make you join in.  In the immortal words of the Big man himself, jump in, take a look around and don't lose your bottle!