FEATURE: GOING COMMANDO • 19 AGENDA •
P
itched between Aberdeen and Dundee on Scotland’s north- eastern coastline, the town of Arbroath is home to the
fabled Arbroath Smokie, the majestic preserved ruins of a fine 12th-century abbey, and the 600 Royal Marines of 45 Commando, who have called the RM Condor base just outside the town ‘home’ for more than 40 years. Quite what all this is doing within the
pages of Unfiltered immediately becomes clear as soon as we step into the plush confines of the officers’ mess at RM Condor – the bar here is home to a vast malt whisky collection (at the last count, there were about 200 bottles in all).
“45 Commando initially moved here
to form part of NATO’s Atlantic flank in 1970 during the Cold War,” explains Lieutenant Tom Hudson, “and being in Scotland, whisky very naturally became part of the culture here.” It was a culture that was willingly
embraced, and soon whisky had woven itself into the fabric of the unit’s social life. “If there is any mess function,
whisky will feature one way or another. Invariably, it will be people having a dram and enjoying it, but when people leave the unit there is also a custom that they have to leave a bottle to add to the collection,” Hudson tells me. Visitors often donate to this good
cause too, as Unfiltered is doing on this occasion with a bottle of Cask No. 35.29, the aptly named ‘Explosive impact with after-tremors’. And, with so much whisky to be looked after, 45 Commando even has its own ‘whisky officer’ [who can’t be named here as he is in a special forces unit] to manage and maintain whisky stocks and standards. He’s got his work cut out though
because, with so many guys here refining their whisky palates, the marines of 45 Commando are breeding a discerning bunch of drinkers. “We have plenty of blokes coming
CONTINUED OVERLEAF
PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER SANDGROUND
THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY
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