Vat 69

For the special forces unit, see VAT 69 Commando.

Vat 69 is a blended Scotch whisky produced by Diageo in Scotland. It was created by William Sanderson & Son Limited^[1] of South Queensferry, Scotland.^[2]

Vat 69

A bottle of Vat 69 whisky.
Type	Blended Scotch whisky
Manufacturer	Diageo
Country of origin	Scotland
Introduced	1882
Alcohol by volume	40%

History

William Sanderson was born in Leith, Scotland on 27 January 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 characteristic 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.^[7]

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.^[8] 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.^[9]

In autumn 1980, "Vat 69 Reserve" from the House of Sanderson had its world première 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.^[10]

See also

• List of whisky brands