Who can tell me more about my bottle of whisky Fortification- Old Scotch Whisky- 43 percent - Simpson Shepherd and Sons LTD Aberdeen What has happened to Simpson Shepherd and why is information so rar?

Answer 1

I am Simpson Shepherd. I am the direct descendent of Simpson Sheherd, born in 1810, who founded Fortification Scotch Whisky. He started by buying a licensed grocer in West North Street, Aberdeen, in 1834. He died in 1879 and his grave is in the West Church of St Nicholas, Aberdeen. By the time he died he had made a great deal of money, and his family were well set up financially. The business remained in my family until 1936 (before my time) when my grandfather, also Simpson Shepherd, sold it. By that time the malts to make the blend had become hard to acquire by smaller blenders. I suspect that the main reason it was sold was because my grandfather at the time was 54 years old, financially secure and ready to retire. His son, my father, was only 10 at the time. Also, by that time the business had been in the family for 102 years, and it apparently irritated my grandfather that substantial dividends were being paid to distant relatives whom he had never met, and who had contributed nothing to the running of the business. My father always said that it was a pity that the business was sold before the Second World War. If it has been sold after the war the value of the whisky in the warehouse in Shore Lane Aberdeen whould have been vastly greater. My grandfather could hardly have predicted that in 1936.

Simpson Shepherd.

<simpsonshepherd@Yahoo.co.uk>