Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Search for whiskies proves a good hunting ground

Post Thumbnail

I recently viewed a large collection of whisky water jugs that once sat on every bar but have now become rarities and even collector’s items.

Among the familiar Bells and Johnny Walker jugs, three caught my eye – two for whiskies I had never heard of and one that has disappeared in recent years.

The two unknowns were “Forres” and “St Leger”, the third “Beneagles”. So I delved into the archives, internet and my own files to uncover any information on the three names.

It turned out Forres was a blend made by Hay and Son, wine and spirit dealers in Sheffield, established in the 19th century but who faded around 1970. Two years ago a 1920s bottle of Forres fetched top dollar at Stride and Son, auctioneers at Chichester, West Sussex. Although it is impossible to discover what whiskies went into the blend, one can assume a key malt was Benromach, the Forres distillery closed in the 1980s but later reopened by Gordon and MacPhail of Elgin and now one of Scotland’s most successful independent distilleries.

Historical information on St Leger – named after the famous horse race – proved scant and hard to find. However, the brand is still sold in Canada as a cheap blend. A couple of bloggers described it as one of the dullest whiskies they had ever drunk and advised imbibers to dilute it with cola or other mixers. Definitely an also-ran, not a winner – but it does come in an attractive pale green bottle.

Beneagles has its roots in a Perth High Street grocers established by the Thomson family in 1906-08. The shop closed in 1973 but their whisky business was acquired by hotel group Reo Stakis in 1983 to supply its Haddows off-licences. All this was sold to brewers Scottish and Newcastle in 1985, with the whisky business sold on to Invergordon Distillers and Whyte and Mackay that same year.

In its halcyon days, Beneagles was famous for its delightful ceramic miniatures of Scottish birds and animals, the most popular being Nessie. Made by top pottery firms, these can still fetch good money on eBay and other websites.