Brad Japhe — FORBES
In 2017, it was reported that Queen Elizabeth consumes up to four cocktails per day—as many as 28 tipples per week. If you are to believe the words of her former chef, she kicks off the early afternoon with her favorite cocktail: Gin and Dubonnet. Then it’s on to a wine-based aperitif on the rocks. This is all before lunch, by the way, which she accompanies with a dry martini. In the evening she pairs mealtime alongside a glass or two of champagne.
She even recently found time to release her own spirit; a gin flavored with handpicked botanicals from the royal garden in Buckingham Palace. Quite a nifty schedule for a nonagenarian.
And it turns out the monarch might also have quite the penchant for single malt scotch. Evidence for the love affair stretches back at least until 1980 when she received her very own cask of Bowmore from the storied distillery on Islay. None of it was bottled until 2002 and each year since she’s donated three to charity—out of 648 total. The most recent auctioning just ended, with a bottle of the ‘Queen’s Cask’ fetching nearly $36,000.
In 1984, Her Majesty awarded a Royal Warrant to The Famous Grouse—a blended scotch. She’s hardly alone in her adoration of that particular producer; for forty years it has been the top-selling brand within Scotland.
But all of these esteemed beverages likely play second fiddle to her low-key liquor of choice: Royal Lochnagar. Built in 1843, this distillery has a longstanding connection to the Crown. Just five years after Lochnagar came online, Queen Victoria purchased Balmoral Estate, directly across the River Dee.
Soon after establishing the castle as the royal holiday home—a distinction it still enjoys to this day—Victoria and Prince Albert paid a visit to the neighboring whisky operation in what very well might have been history’s first distillery tour. Apparently she was so impressed by what she saw (and tasted) that she started fortifying her Bordeaux wine with the whisky.
These days, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip make their way to their Scottish summer home usually by mid-July. In some years they’ll stay in residence until early October. During her extended vacation she perhaps polishes off several bottles of the local libation. Though it’s not quite clear whether or not she takes it neat or in her red wine.
For a sense of what the Queen’s secret dram might taste like, you won’t even need a passport. It’s actually readily available here in the States. In 2001 the distillery was acquired by Diageo—the largest producer in all of Scotland. You probably know the company best as the makers of Johnnie Walker. But they are also responsible for the Game of Thrones themed whiskies. During that limited promotion, Royal Lochnagar was represented, fittingly, by a fictional royal family: House Baratheon. The 12-year-old label carries some sensational nutmeg notes and an alluring, almost-cinnamon imbued creaminess.
In other words, perhaps the Queen is on to something. The longest-reingning British monarch of all time didn’t make it to 94 (and far beyond) by drinking swill. So if there’s any lesson she offers here it is to drink well and drink often. You needn’t be royalty to raise your glass to that.