Distillery decants its charitable royal blend

WHISKY which has been maturing for 60 years and costs £100,000 a bottle has been decanted to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

A total of 61 decanters of the blended malt and grain whisky were bottled at the Royal Lochnagar Distillery on the Balmoral Estate in Ballater, Aberdeenshire.

One will be gifted to the Queen and the others will be sold around the world for £100,000 each, with all profits from the sale going to the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (Qest), a charity which provides grants and training to craftspeople in the UK.

The whisky’s creation was overseen by master blender Jim Beveridge at John Walker & Sons. He said: “The whisky was first distilled in 1952 and there was a great deal of care and attention at that stage.

“It was then stored in our distilleries until about the beginning of last year, when we started to think about what whiskies we would use in the project.”

Mr Beveridge, who has worked as a blender with John Walker & Sons for 30 years, said it was a “privilege to be involved in such a unique project”.

He added: “It’s a very special blend and all the craftsmen that have been involved in the creation of the project and all the things that surround the whisky are really very special as well.”

Each crystal decanter is accompanied by two hand-engraved lead crystal glasses, enclosed in a wooden cabinet made from oak and pine from the Queen’s Sandringham and Balmoral estates.

Qest chairman Richard Watling said: “The creation of this beautiful work is of enormous significance to Qest.”