DW's next venture involved liqueurs.
For years, the Wheatleys' clientele had been coming in asking for the comparatively rare liqueurs they had enjoyed while abroad, and the Wheatleys had always suggested their clients try Fortnum & Mason.
Now DW decided to do something for himself. He got in touch with every liqueur importer in London, and compiled a list of two hundred available liqueurs. They ranged from Abricotine to Zwatschgenwasser, and while the average price of a bottle of liqueur in DW's day was 17/6, the most expensive item in the list (Chartreuse in carafon; made in the eighteenth century before Chartreuse was sold commercially) was priced at £25 a bottle.
This was however to be no ordinary list - it was a mere five inches wide but six feet long, and sent out in a thin cardboard tube that looked like a modern cardboard tube for lavatory paper.
After the list had gone out, if Fortums were asked for a liqueur they did not stock, they referred their enquirer to Wheatley and Son.
