The Monarch
Nov. 9th, 2016 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqWhile I was in Vancouver, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
othelianna showed me this awesome thrift store frequented by assorted props people. That being the case, it had some great finds. Hell, I could have bought a stuffed Cheetah.
One of the things I walked out with was a little ceramic booze bottle I've decided to add my collection:
Naturally, the whisky is long gone (in the hands of props folk, this is to be expected). But I don't like having empty bottles in my collection, so I figured I'd just go to the liquor store and pick up a full-sized bottle of The Monarch and decant a bit of it into the little bottle. Turns out, that's a lot easier said than done, and discovering that lead me down a fascinating rabbit hole.
First, the Lambert Brothers were whisky merchants in Edinburgh from 1849 to 1993, actually incorporating in 1958. I'm not sure if they just had a liquor store, or if they were some kind of middlemen for the whisky trade. Given they had several varieties of blended whisky, I lean to the latter.
Despite not being around for over twenty years, you can still get full bottles of The Monarch. I saw two recent auctions where a full bottle went for £65, and $49 USD. If I really wanted one, I could get it, though this would mean sticking my toe into the world of liquor auctions.
I'm not really into devoting that much time to this. I might, if I were a whisky drinker, but I really lack the palette for that. I'll stick to rum.
So I figured I'd just buy a bottle of blended whisky. Only constraint: It had to be Scotch, and it had to be blended. I opted for a Dewar's White Label. Later, when doing more research, I found out that Dewar's (actually, Bacardi, who own the Dewar's brand), had a blended scotch called... The Monarch. The difference appears to be 3% and twice the money. So I have a whisky for the bottle. Not the whisky, or a namesake whisky, just a whisky.
About that bottle. It's a gorgeous single serving (or maybe two, it's in the neighbourhood of 50ml) stonewear bottle. And I found out that if you have one in perfect condition, you can sell it for £45! Taking a close look at mine, it's not perfect, but it is very nice. There's a fine lattice of tiny cracks in the enamel. Not that I plan on selling mine
- really, I just want to display it, and I feel that it should be displayed with booze in it.
Having acquired the bottle and the booze, I just need to decant some whisky - and maybe taste test it. ;) Last obstacle is the cork, which has dried up over the years (though it has a nice caramel scent to it). It's soaking in some hot water, and I'll see if it makes a seal tomorrow morning. Once it can, I'll be done.
othelianna showed me this awesome thrift store frequented by assorted props people. That being the case, it had some great finds. Hell, I could have bought a stuffed Cheetah.One of the things I walked out with was a little ceramic booze bottle I've decided to add my collection:
Naturally, the whisky is long gone (in the hands of props folk, this is to be expected). But I don't like having empty bottles in my collection, so I figured I'd just go to the liquor store and pick up a full-sized bottle of The Monarch and decant a bit of it into the little bottle. Turns out, that's a lot easier said than done, and discovering that lead me down a fascinating rabbit hole.
First, the Lambert Brothers were whisky merchants in Edinburgh from 1849 to 1993, actually incorporating in 1958. I'm not sure if they just had a liquor store, or if they were some kind of middlemen for the whisky trade. Given they had several varieties of blended whisky, I lean to the latter.
Despite not being around for over twenty years, you can still get full bottles of The Monarch. I saw two recent auctions where a full bottle went for £65, and $49 USD. If I really wanted one, I could get it, though this would mean sticking my toe into the world of liquor auctions.
I'm not really into devoting that much time to this. I might, if I were a whisky drinker, but I really lack the palette for that. I'll stick to rum.
So I figured I'd just buy a bottle of blended whisky. Only constraint: It had to be Scotch, and it had to be blended. I opted for a Dewar's White Label. Later, when doing more research, I found out that Dewar's (actually, Bacardi, who own the Dewar's brand), had a blended scotch called... The Monarch. The difference appears to be 3% and twice the money. So I have a whisky for the bottle. Not the whisky, or a namesake whisky, just a whisky.
About that bottle. It's a gorgeous single serving (or maybe two, it's in the neighbourhood of 50ml) stonewear bottle. And I found out that if you have one in perfect condition, you can sell it for £45! Taking a close look at mine, it's not perfect, but it is very nice. There's a fine lattice of tiny cracks in the enamel. Not that I plan on selling mine
- really, I just want to display it, and I feel that it should be displayed with booze in it.
Having acquired the bottle and the booze, I just need to decant some whisky - and maybe taste test it. ;) Last obstacle is the cork, which has dried up over the years (though it has a nice caramel scent to it). It's soaking in some hot water, and I'll see if it makes a seal tomorrow morning. Once it can, I'll be done.
