Alfred Barnard

Alfred Barnard (1837–1918) was a British brewing and distilling historian.

According to the limited family records available, Barnard was born in 1837 into a Baptist family in Thaxted, a rural village in Essex. He was one of eight children. His father was a draper and grocer.

In 1859, aged 22 he married Fanny Ruffle, also 22. At this time Alfred is thought to have been a grocer residing in Kensington. They had two daughters, Theodora and Edith, and one son, Harold. Barnard is described on the respective birth certificates as a toilet soap exporter, then a merchant and finally as a gentleman. Different addresses are given on the certificates, ranging from Islington in 1861, to the Cavendish Square area in 1869.

In the 1881 they are listed as living near Dulwich, London. Curiously, Barnard does not appear on the 1901 census.

As secretary of Harper's Weekly Gazette, he visited every working whisky distillery in Great Britain and Ireland from 1885-1887. In all, he visited an incredible 162 distilleries; 129 in Scotland, 29 in Ireland and 4 in England. The result of which was the monumental 500 page The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom, covering in depth technical information on the distilleries, along with sketches and engravings. Of the original print, only a small number of copies survive to this day, some are in presentation binding (leather) but most have a green cloth binding. Copies of the first edition have changed hands for £2,500. However, a facsimile copy was published in 1987, and has been reprinted three times since. This book has been referred to as possibly the most important book written on whisky."

Many of the distilleries Barnard visited have since closed, and in most cases, especially in Ireland, the buildings themselves have disappeared.

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