Whiskies Galore

Published on Thursday 5 March 2009 18:12

THE function room on the top floor of the Scottish Whisky Experience in Edinburgh looks like the aftermath of a particularly decadent party. There is barely an inch of carpet visible beneath row upon row of gleaming whisky bottles. Some are full, the morning light shining through them and casting a syrupy glow onto the pale carpet, while others are half empty, so old that a portion of their contents has evaporated. Tidying up this lot looks like it's going to be one heck of a job.

Beneath the old wooden beams of this room sits the largest collection of whisky in the world. Or rather, just over half of the collection – all 3,384 precious bottles simply won't fit into the space. The Scottish Whisky Experience is the new home for the collection, purchased from Brazilian businessman Claive Vidiz by leading drinks business Diageo. It's just arrived in Edinburgh and I'm here to help in the colossal task of unpacking, cleaning and cataloguing the collection.

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"This collection is pretty unique, and I doubt we'll get to experience something quite like this again," says Christine McCafferty, Diageo's heritage archive manager. "It's a singular treat for us, and it's a fun, if rather exhausting process.

"It's really exciting to come across brands that don't exist any more, (such as Old Parr Tribute, Haig & Haig Five Star and Johnnie Walker Old Harmony] as well as some of the quirkier bottles. I love that this is a very wide-ranging collection; it sort of shows the different ways people have drunk whisky over the years. There are whiskies of all shapes and sizes, so visually it's very interesting."

Half of the room is given over to almost 200 wooden crates, stacked in threes, each containing ten carefully packed bottles of whisky. A dozen staff from Diageo and the Scottish Whisky Experience are processing the bottles at an impressive speed, and, after donning the requisite white gloves, I'm allowed to start unpacking.

You will have heard the expression "like a bull in a china shop" – try "a clumsy journalist among the world's biggest collection of whisky". I am, to say the least, being cautious. While the details of the terms of its sale to Diageo remain under wraps, the collection has been described by whisky experts as "invaluable". Its contents includes some of the most popular brands on the market to some of the rarest. I am reminded of something my mother told me when she took me into a glass shop as a child: "Now Alice, no flailing."

We unscrew the crates one at a time, removing layers of tissue paper before sliding each bottle, wrapped in further tissue, from its tight sleeve of padded foil. While staff are pleasantly surprised at just how efficiently the bottles have been packed, Sellotape is proving seriously problematic.

Some of the packaging has been covered in the stuff, thanks to a few over-zealous packers, and every scrap of it must be removed so that when the bottles are returned to the crates, (to be transported downstairs to their new home, a specially-built vault where visitors will soon be able to view the whole collection) there's no danger of the labels being snagged.

Staff who initially used scissors to hack at the pesky stuff are now attacking it with their nails. I have a go with my teeth at one point. It's the only, ahem, sticking point in what is otherwise a flawless production line that snakes its way around the large room.

At the head of the snake, three people open the crates and remove the packaging before carefully handing each tissue-wrapped bottle to McCafferty. She checks each one for damage and then passes them on to another two people, who check them against the catalogue of bottles, number them and pass them on to be cleaned very carefully. This is a laborious process, involving dabbing carefully at the bottle with a soft cloth, tilting it only very slightly and being careful to avoid the label.

After being cleaned they're closely packed together in neat rows on rather spindly looking tables, clinking worryingly whenever someone stomps by. Finally, they're photographed individually, then placed on the floor to be categorised, first by region and then alphabetically. Weaving around these clusters of old bottles, their labels yellowing and worn, it goes without saying that we all find ourselves treading very carefully.

Staff are anticipating a couple of breakages, but after 500 bottles have been unpacked, there have been only two slight leaks where the seals have been weak. There are too many bottles for everyone to pause and admire them all, but some do cause a flurry of excitement. Having seen the catalogue, there are some bottles that are being excitedly anticipated.

The oldest bottle – an 1893 John Dewar – is yet to be unpacked, but a Strathmill single malt, one of only 100 produced to celebrate the Speyside distillery's 100th anniversary in 1991 and offered to a select few including various heads of state, causes much excitement, as does one to mark the 150th anniversary of Johnnie Walker in 1970.

Then there are the quirkier bottles; not necessarily particularly rare or expensive, but definitely eye-catching. They range from classic to kitsch; in the shape of footballs or animals, ceramic figurines, or just eccentrically-shaped glass bottles. There is even a can of whisky from Australia, and the various interesting finds are creating a real buzz among the whisky enthusiasts in the room.

"This is incredibly exciting for us and it's quite a sight," says Alastair McIntosh, deputy chairman of the Scotch Whisky Experience. "It's a big undertaking, and it's been all hands on deck for everyone here, but it's quite a unique experience. We can't wait to see all 3,384 bottles stored floor-to-ceiling in the new vault."

As I leave, handing back a decidedly grubby pair of white gloves, more than one member of staff jokingly begs me to stay, explaining that the whole process could take about a week and they could use all the help they can get. Will they, I ask, be tempted to crack open a bottle in celebration once the 3,384th bottle has been unpacked, cleaned and catalogued? The answer is a rather disappointing "no".

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'Whisky has had this role for more than 500 years and I hope it continues'

CLAIVE VIDIZ'S whisky collection began in 1971 while he was working as an executive in the pharmaceutical industry in Brazil. When colleagues from Britain visited, they often brought him a bottle of whisky, and he soon began asking friends and colleagues to bring him bottles.

As his collection became more famous, distillers began sending him whiskies, and his collection grew rapidly. Now in his seventies, he has three sons, none of whom like whisky, so last year he decided to send his collection "home".

"It is wonderful to see it safely back in Scotland," he said last year when he announced his decision to sell the collection. "We have an expression in Brazil 'the good son returns home' and in my view the collection is back with its family now."

Before selling the impressive collection, he kept it at home in Sao Paulo under stringent lighting and temperature conditions and displayed the items alphabetically, before turning it into a museum in 1983.

A few years later, he formed the Brazilian Association of Whisky Collectors with a group of friends, an organisation that now has members across the world. He is considered an authority on the subject and owns more than 200 books on the topic.

He enjoys the celebratory nature of whisky. "When you have a sales record, when you are at a ceremony or a wedding, when you are at a meeting of friends or your football team wins – these are happy and joyful moments of life when we make friends," he says. "Whisky has had this role in society for more than 500 years and I hope it continues."

He cites a bottle of Dimple Pinch as one of his personal favourites. One of the first special editions of a Scotch whisky ever produced, he purchased it in 1969 for $1,000, making it the most expensive limited edition bottle of Scotch whisky on the market at the time. Other rare bottles in the collection include a Royal Salute Ruby, first produced in 1953 to celebrate the marriage of the daughter of a Japanese emperor.

The complete collection was sold to Diageo for an undisclosed sum, and Vidiz is delighted that it remains together.

"To split up a collection which I have devoted more than 35 years of my life to would have broken my heart, so I am truly thrilled Diageo has purchased it in its entirety," he said when the deal was struck last year.

"It is now in the hands of a company which is at the heart of the Scotch industry and I am certain they will cherish and develop the collection."

He has already visited the Scottish Whisky Experience to discuss the plans for the collection, and aims to visit again this spring to view the collection in its new home.