Vat 69

Vat 69 whisky is a scotch blended whisky, produced by William Sanderson.

In 1882 William Sanderson prepared one hundred casks of blended whiskey and hired a panel of experts to taste them. The batch from the vat with number 69 was proclaimed as the best tasting one and the famous blend got its name. The whisky was at first bottled in port wine bottles.

History

William Sanderson, born in Leith in 1840, started an apprenticeship with a wine and spirituous liquors producer at the age of 13. In 1863, he already owned his own business and produced liqueurs and whisky-mixtures. In 1880, his son William Mark joined the business. He convinced his father to bottle the different blends. Sanderson already bottled his liqueurs, but he did not like the idea of bottling whisky. His son was finally successful in convincing him.

The typical VAT 69 bottle was introduced to the market and was not changed for the next hundred years. In 1884, Sanderson bought the Glengarioch Distillery. It was situated in the middle of a barley field. The distillery was meant to ensure the delivery with grain-whisky. Sanderson took care that there were always new products to be blended, because DCL, which was a strong society at that time, controlled such a big amount of the production, that it could influence the supply of the competing company very sensitively. Therefore Sanderson, together with Usher and Bell founded a company to produce grain-whisky, which still exists today as the "North British Distillery". Sanderson got a few Malt Whiskies that he needed to blend his VAT 69 from a friend, John Begg, who owned the "Royal Lochnagar Distillery". When Begg died, Sanderson became director of Begg's Distillery. In 1933, Sanderson's company merged with Booth's Distilleries, which merged again with the DCL-Group in 1935. In autumn 1980, "Vat 69 Reserve" from the House of Sanderson had its world-première in England. Chosen and optimal stored malt whiskies are used to produce this De-Luxe-Whisky.

Blend

Despite the name it is not a vatted malt but a blend of about 40 malt and grain whiskies. The different malts are blended with each other at the optimal ripening stage to ensure the best blend. This means that a light malt of eight years, having reached its ripening summit and coming from the Lowlands adds the same result to the blend as an 18-year-ripened peat malt from Islay. Therefore, there are no standardised age-descriptions of Vat 69 Reserve.

Since autumn 1980, Glenesk, which is a 12 year old Highland Single Malt (40 %), is available from Sanderson in Germany. Glenesk is stored for at least 12 years in sherry barrels. Since 1964, William Sanderson & Sons Ltd. overlooks the sale of "Antiquary", which is a 12 year old De-Luxe-Scotch-Whisky (40 %).

Products

Whisky-products available from Sanderson in Germany are:
*VAT 69 Finest Scotch Whisky (40 %)
*VAT 69 Reserve de Luxe Scotch Whisky (40 %)
*Glenesk Single Malt Highland Scotch 12 Years Old (40 %)
*The Antiquary de Luxe Old Scotch Whisky 12 Years Old (40 %).

Whisky-products available from Sanderson in Australia are:
*700 mL Vat 69 Fine Scotch Whisky (40 %)

References in Popular Culture

* In Simone De Beauvoir's novel "She Came To Stay", Gerber tells Francoise "When I'm rich and run my own house, I'll always keep a bottle of Vat 69 in my cupboard."
*Vat 69 was recorded as Lewis Nixon's favorite liquor in the book and mini-series "Band of Brothers".
*In the 1949 World War II film "Twelve O'Clock High", Gregory Peck drinks Vat 69.
*Vat 69 was the favorite drink of The Saint's cohort, Hoppy Uniatz.
*In the film "Our Man in Havana" one of James Wormold's agents is found killed with a bottle of Vat 69 in his hand. It was a present for James who collected miniature whisky bottles.
*In the Hungarian film "Jó estét nyár, jó estét szerelem" ("Good evening summer, good evening love") Vat 69 was the favourite drink of the "Greek diplomat".
*In the Italian film "Febbre da Cavallo" ("Horse fever"), during a scene, the main actor is recording a spot for the Vat 69 whisky.
*In 1914 Sir Ernest Shackleton took supplies of Vat 69 on his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, stating that it would be used for medicinal and celebratory purposes.
* Nickname of the Royal Malaysian Police 69th Commando Battalion.
* A bottle of Vat 69 is seen next to bottle of Johnny Walker in an apartment's bar in the 1963 Japanese film, Youth of the Beast.
* Osbie Feel in Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" 'sucks frequently' at a half pint milk bottle filed with Vat 69 and water.
* In "Hotel Rawanda" Don Cheadle's character gives Vat 69 to a African General when there is no Glenmorangie left.
* In "Just A Boys Game" Jake and Dancer get right oot their tits on Vat 69 before heading up to Clatty Bellas.
* In "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension," Penny Pretty attributes her sadness to "soaking up too much Vat 69."