Queen Elizabeth’s Rare Whisky Raises Money for Midwest Burn Center

September 24, 2015 – The old adage about news stories “If it bleeds, it leads” doesn’t apply here.  This is a story of a terrible accident leading to a happy ending and a lot of money being raised for a worthwhile cause.  And the Queen of England helping out.  It also proves another old adage, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.”

When Queen Elizabeth visited Scotland’s Bowmore distillery on the island of Islay in 1980, the distillery honored her by filling a cask of spirits, in her presence, then storing it in the cellar to mature.  The Queen celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 2002 at which time The Queen’s Cask was bottled in numbered, commemorative bottles, individually boxed.  A total of 648 bottles of 1980 Bowmore Single Malt Scotch Whisky were delivered to the Queen and distributed among her various palaces for her personal use.  Every year, Her Majesty donates three bottles to charity.
In 1994, a woman named Sarah Bazey of Minneapolis, owner and president of Simplex Construction Supplies, was in a helicopter crash at a construction site, which resulted in severe burns over 40 percent of her body.  She credits the Burn Center at Regions Hospital in St. Paul Minnesota for saving her life.

After the crash, Sarah Bazey attended the Harvard Business School where a classmate was Simon Berry.  Mr. Berry is the chairman of Berry Bros. & Rudd a wine and spirits store in London founded 317 years ago near St. James’s Palace.  The store has been doing business with the inhabitants of St. James’s Palace since the reign of George III and Simon Berry serves as Clerk of the Royal Cellars.

Earlier this year Sarah Bazey ran into Simon Berry at a dinner party in Kornberg, Germany and since she is a dedicated volunteer at Regions Burn Center and co-chair of this year’s wine auction, she asked Berry if he would donate a bottle of wine to the auction.  He suggested a bottle of the Queen’s private whisky instead.  For the first time ever, a bottle from Queen Elizabeth’s private collection would be available to American collectors.

The story gets better.  With the Queen’s permission, he sent two bottles, No. 513 and No. 514. A reserve of $50,000 was put on each bottle.  The whisky did not reach the reserve at the Wine Auction held on September 19 but earlier this week, an anonymous bid of $50,000 was accepted by the hospital.  The second bottle is scheduled to be auctioned in New York by Bonham’s on November 20.  Proceeds will go to Regions Burn Center, a world leader in burn and frostbite treatment.