Alfred Barnard

Alfred Barnard (1837-1918) was a British brewing and distilling historian.

Life and Work

According to the limited family records available, Barnard was born in 1837 into a Baptist family in Thaxted, a rural village in Essex, England. His was one of eight children. His father was a draper and grocer.

In 1859, aged 22 he married Fanny Ruffle, also aged 22. At this time Alfred is thought to have been a grocer and residing in Kensington. They had two daughters, Theodora and Edith, and one son, Harold. Barnard is described on the respective birth certificates as a toilet soap exporter, then a merchant and finally as a gentleman. Different address are given on the certificates, ranging from Islington in 1861, to the Cavendish Square area in 1869.

While in the 1881 they are listed as living near Dulwich, London. Curiously, Barnard does not appear on the 1901 census.

As secretary of "Harper's Weekly Gazette", he visited every working whisky distillery in Great Britain and Ireland from 1885-1887. In all, he visited an incredible 162 distilleries; 129 in Scotland, 29 in Ireland and 4 in England. The result of which was the monumental 500 page "The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom", covering in depth technical information on the distilleries along with sketches and engravings. Of the original print, only a dozen or so copies survived to this day. However, a facsimile copy was published in 1987, and has been reprinted three times since. This book has been referred to as "possibly the most important book written on whisky. [http://www.finestandrarest.com/FRwhisky.html/ Rarestandfinest.com February 20 2006 ]

Most of the distileries Barnard visited have since closed, and in most cases, especially in Ireland, the buildings themselves have disappeared.

Following the success of "The Whisky distilleries of the United Kingdom", Barnard undertook a similar tour in 1889-1891 visiting over 110 breweries in the Great Britain and Ireland. The end product of this tour was "The noted breweries of Great Britain and Ireland", published over three years and four volumes. These volumes give a great description of the scale of industry at the time and also some biopsies on some of the distinguished families involved, such as the Guinnesses.

He died in Croydon, South London in 1918, aged 81.

See also

*Bitter
*Irish whiskey
*Irish stout
*Scotch whisky

Bibliography

*"Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom", 1887; reprinted Birlinn Ltd (1 Jul 2007); ISBN 1841582662
*"Noted breweries of Great Britain and Ireland", 1891
*"How to blend scotch whisky", 1904; reprinted 2005

References

External links

* [http://www.wormtub.com/alfred_barnard.php Online version of Barnard's accounts]
* [https://www.lfw.co.uk/whisky_review/SWR20/article20-7.html Scotch Whisky Review]
* [https://www.lfw.co.uk/whisky_review/SWR20/article20-9.html Further Information about Barnard]