History

• William Sanderson prepared 100 barrels of whisky in 1882 and hired a team of experts to taste and judge the blends. The panel of judges chose the blend from vat number 69 as the best, which is how the product got its name.

Blend

• Vat 69 is a blend of 40 malt and grain whiskies and contains 40 percent alcohol.

Fun Fact

• Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, an explorer during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, brought a supply of Vat 69 on his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition to be used for medicinal and celebratory purposes.

Famous Ties

• In the book "The Shining," Stephen King writes of Jack Torrance's hangover headaches: "He had begun to think of his morning-after thumpers as Excedrin Headache Number Vat 69." Vat 69 is also referenced in movies such as "Hotel Rwanda," "Band of Brothers," "Our Man in Havana" and "Twelve O'Clock High."