Alfred Barnard (8 May 1837 – 13 May 1918) was a British brewing and distilling

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

Life and work

Barnard was born on 8 May 1837 into a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

family in Thaxted, a rural village in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. He was one of eight children. His father was a

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

and

grocer A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...

. In 1859, aged, 22 he married Fanny Ruffle, also 22. At this time, Alfred was a grocer residing in

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. They had two daughters, Theodora and Edith, and one son, Harold. Barnard was a toilet soap exporter, then a merchant and finally as a gentleman. As secretary of ''Harper's Weekly Gazette'', he visited every working whisky distillery in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

from 1885 to 1887. He visited 162 distilleries; 129 in Scotland, 29 in Ireland and 4 in England. The result of which was the 500 page ''The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom'', covering in depth technical information on the distilleries, along with sketches and engravings. Of the original print, only a small number of copies survive to this day, some are in presentation binding (leather) but most have a green cloth binding. Copies of the first edition have changed hands for £2,500. A

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...

copy was published in 1987, and has been reprinted three times since. The book has been referred to as "''possibly the most important book written on whisky.''"' Following publication of Whiskey Distilleries, he was commissioned by various distilling companies to produce promotional pamphlets. Six are known to still exist and are very rare. They are: ''How to blend Scotch Whisky'' for Mackie & Co, Pattison's/Glenfarclas, Johnnie Walker, Watson's of Dundee, the Highland Distillers and Dalmore distillery. He also wrote a thirty four page Pamphlet for Duncan, Alderdice & Co, Newry, Co. Down who had an extensive blending business. A copy is extant in the Newry Mourne and Down, Museum, Newry Co Down. Following his first success, Barnard undertook a similar beer tour in 1889–1891, visiting over 110 breweries in

and

. The end product of this tour was '' The noted breweries of Great Britain and Ireland'', published over three years and in four volumes. They give a great description of the scale of industry at the time and also some biographies on some of the distinguished families involved, such as the Guinnesses. Promotional pamphlets were produced though unlike Barnard's whisky pamphlets, which were new and original works, these appear simply to be facsimile reprints of the relevant entry in the main volumes. The entries in ''Noted Breweries'' were far more extensive than those in his ''Distilleries'' volume. He died in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, South

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 31 May 1918, aged 81.

Bibliography

*''Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom'', 1887; reprinted Birlinn Ltd (1 Jul 2007); *''The Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland'', 1891 *''A Visit to Watson's Dundee Whisky Stores.'' 1891 *''A Ramble Through Classic Canongate.'' 1892/3 *''How to Blend Scotch Whisky'', 1904; reprinted 2005

References

Scotch Whisky Review
*https://whiskystories.com/2017/09/29/alfred-barnard-the-wandering-whisky-writer/ ‌ {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, Alfred 1837 births 1918 deaths People from Thaxted British historians British male writers

Life and work

See also

Bibliography

References