Vat 69

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Vat69.jpg
A partial bottle of Vat 69 whisky.
Type Scotch blended whisky
Manufacturer William Sanderson & Son Limited
Distributor Diageo
Country of origin Scotland
Introduced 1882
Vat 69 is a Scotch blended whisky created by William Sanderson & Son Limited[1] of
South Queensferry, Scotland, now part of Diageo.[2]

Contents
1 History
2 Blend
3 Products
4 Media appearances
5 References
History
William Sanderson was born in Leith, Scotland January 27, 1839.[3] He started an
apprenticeship with wine and spirituous liquors producer Matthew Buchan at the age
of 13.[4] By 1863, he already owned his own business producing liqueurs and whisky
blends. In 1880, his son William Mark joined the business and persuaded his father
to bottle various blends of whisky.[5]

The iconic Vat 69 bottle with its bulbous neck was introduced to the market and was
not changed for the next hundred years. In 1882, William Sanderson prepared one
hundred casks of blended whisky and hired a panel of experts to taste them. The
batch from the cask (or �vat�) with number 69 was judged to be the best, and this
provided the whisky's brand name.[6] The whisky was at first bottled in port
bottles. In 1884, Sanderson bought the Glen Garioch distillery which was situated
in the middle of a barley field. The distillery was meant to ensure the delivery of
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 large amount of the
production that it had a huge influence on the supply of the competing company. For
this reason Sanderson, together with Usher and Bell, founded a company to produce
grain whisky, which still exists today as the North British Distillery. Sanderson
sourced a few malt whiskies used to blend 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 premi�re
in England.

Blend

Vat 69 production in 1972.

Despite its name, it is not a vatted malt, but a blend of about 40 malt and grain
whiskies. Vat 69 Reserve carries no standard age statement because of the
combination of the malts and grains.[7]

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. has produced "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%)

Media appearances
Captain Lewis Nixon was an American World War II army officer who is a major figure
in the 1992 non-fiction book Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose, and the award-
winning 2001 HBO miniseries made from it. In both Nixon is portrayed as an
alcoholic who went to great lengths to keep a supply of Vat 69, his favorite
whisky, with him at all times.[8]

A Vat 69 dispenser and bottle can be seen behind the bar of Fawlty Towers in the
1975 British television comedy of the same name.