‘It's an extraordinary thing ’ - Comedian Al Murray on his WW2 inspired whisky - and his love of Scotch
Comedian and podcaster Al Murray is behind a newly released whisky which commemorates one of the boldest raids in WW2. Rosalind Erskine spoke to him to find out more about the liquid, and the history behind it.
Al Murray is best known for his comedy Pub Landlord persona, but he’s also a historian, podcaster and whisky fan. It’s the combination of those things that have resulted in him being one of the people behind the release of Operation Chariot whisky. That, and an appreciation of war time fashions.
The Operation Chariot blended Scotch whisky was inspired by the St Nazaire raid, which took place on 28 March 1942 and saw the successful destruction of the Normandie dry dock forcing Germany's largest battleship, Tirpitz, to return to home waters if she were damaged.
Al explained how the whisky launch came about, on a recent episode of food and drink podcast, Scran. He said: “I do this Second World War history podcast ('We Have Ways of Making You Talk') with James Holland, the best selling author, and he's an amazing guy. He's a walking encyclopedia and knows everything about everything to do with the Second World War.
“One of the things James (Jim) loves is the the clothes, the outfits, and he's particularly interested in the uniforms because there was this strange thing that happened, particularly on the American side, where they would adapt civilian outfits because the the armies were full of citizen soldiers, so they'd make the uniforms like work clothes. They weren't dressing people up as guardsmen, they were making them wear overalls and things, and adapting those, and so this very defined style came through in the Second World War.
“We teamed up with two other guys to form a company called Avre because Jim wanted to make faithful reproductions of Second World War clothes and uniforms, because they can look quite snazzy.
“One of the partners, Jim Edmonton, said ‘why don't we do a blended whisky that's in that same spirit (as the clothes) so we've ended up with this.”
The first release from the Avre brand, Operation Chariot is a 15-year-old Oloroso blended malt whisky. The limited-edition release, priced at £199, commemorates the 84th anniversary of the St Nazaire Raid, with 265 bottles produced—one for each Commando who participated in the 1942 operation.
The whisky is a direct extension of the company's mission to bring history to life through tangible, high-quality products. As podcast co-host James Holland, co-founder and internationally acclaimed WWII historian explained: “This whisky is a tribute to a pivotal moment in the war, crafted with the same dedication to historical accuracy and quality that defines our garments.”
Al described the St Nazaire Raid as an “extraordinary, mad thing”. He also explained the Scottish links, which tie into the whisky too.
He said: There were loads of commandos who'd been based in Scotland; the number two commando lived in Ayr. They trained at Lochaber and all over the Highlands, they were born out of the Scottish landscape, out of the whisky landscape, you could say. 265 commandos went and we made 265 bottles. The idea is to have it resonant with the event and the design of the whisky and the blend of the Highlands, we felt was evocative of who these guys were and how they went.
“We felt if you're going to do a whisky that's resonant of the Highlands, what better way than through a thing like Operation Chariot?”
The bottle design and labeling are all reminiscent of the 1940s style, plus the heavier than normal bottle comes wrapped in paper which is printed with reconnaissance photographs including an aerial view of the dry dock from a Spitfire. Of these details Al said: “We’re trying to get into the granular detail of the thing that the bottle is celebrating.”
To say it was an easy call to launch a whisky would be an understatement, as Al is a huge whisky fan himself. He said: “Single malts are really my thing. I played the Orkneys about 12 years ago, and we made sure we went to as many distillers as we could. Went to Highland Park, went to the Macallan and everything because I absolutely love it, and it's something my wife doesn't understand. It's my tipple. If we have a big party and someone starts trying to go through the bottles of whisky at the back of the cupboard, I get quite defensive.”
Despite this love of single malts, the Operation Chariot is a blended malt, but one that packs a punch with an ABV of 50.5%. Of this, Al said: “Blends can be a bit smooth on your palate because they're sort of trying to please everyone and kind of stay out of your way a bit. We didn't want to do that.
“We wanted to have a bit more character, so it has quite a lot more character. Because I'm not normally a blends guy either; I prefer going for single malts and things that have been in the cask for a long time. But this is sort of the exception that proves the rule. This whisky has to be like an Operation Chariot experience. It's supposed to bash you in the face and explode like the destroyer HMS Campbeltown.”
Operation Chariot is available to buy on the Avre website priced at £199 with proceeds going to veterans charities. To hear more, search Scran wherever you get your podcasts.
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