FEATURE: GOING COMMANDO • 21 AGENDA • DID YOU KNOW?


This 105mm artillery shell on the wall is home to a ‘mystery bottle’ of whisky. The drams are free – unless you get the last one, in which case you have to buy a whole bottle!


residing on the top shelf of the bar. (The whiskies here are divided into three categories: top shelf for the finest malts, middle shelf for the broad range of excellent ones and bottom shelf for the few basic staples in the collection.) The whisky hoard itself is impressive


and broad-ranging with no corner of the Scotch whisky empire going unrepresented and plenty of pleasing oddballs, rarities and wildcards among the pack too. These include Glenfiddich’s Snow Phoenix, a limited edition bottling (almost impossible to buy these days) that was drawn from casks buried by snow when one of the distillery’s warehouse roofs collapsed under the weight of the white stuff in winter 2010; a cask-strength homage to the now long-closed Port Ellen distillery on Islay; and the walloping hearty punch of the classic 60% Glenfarclas 105. International whisky is less well


in the new memorial garden built on site at RM Condor. Once home to the commanding officer’s vegetable garden, the site chosen had long since lain dormant and was little more than a muddy bog surrounded by a rather impressive old Victorian wall. “We had an aspiration to turn it into something special,” says Hudson, “a garden of reflection, remembrance and contemplation for Marines and their families.” Laid out in the shape of the Marines’


crest – the globe and laurel – when seen


from the air, the garden


is a movingly peaceful place. As well as its central monument bearing the names of all those from the unit who have


been killed, there are smaller monuments made of rock from all the places 45 has seen active service, from Afghanistan and Iraq, to Kosovo and the Falkland Islands. Returning to the mess, I meet some


more marines keen to get their hands on the newest addition to their collection, the Society bottle of ‘Explosive impact with after-tremors’, which is now


represented, but Hudson says they are keen to try some Japanese whisky, so that is likely to be the next addition to the collection. Tiered in price accordingly, the logic behind the three shelves was summed up by Captain Rick Moat. “An evening starts on the top shelf, progresses through the middle and then finishes at the bottom if you’re making a real night of it.” There’s even a free dram on offer, if


you’re prepared to gamble. At the side of the bar there is an upturned bottle completely hidden inside a 105mm artillery shell. Only a regular measure dispenser can be seen peeking out at


CONTINUED OVERLEAF THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY


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