An Epic Scotch Experience comes to the Beaufort Hotel with the Menhaden Whisky Society. The next social gathering of the Menhaden Whisky Society will take place on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at 6 pm.

The informal group will get together for a tasting featuring three single malt whiskies by Macallan Scotch.

Macallan is one of the oldest licensed distilleries in Scotland. Known as the “Rolls Royce among Malts”, it is one of the best-known Single Malt Whisky brands worldwide.

Our culinary team will create a small, innovative taste of food that will be paired with each whisky. Tickets are available for $45, plus tax and service charges.

We will offer a special $129 room rate for that evening at the Beaufort Hotel.

Please call Ben Steele a   252-838-7245 for whisky tasting and room reservations. A credit card will be required to hold your reservations.

We encourage you to make a reservation for dinner at 34° North Restaurant after the tasting. See our complete Dinner Menu.

Sign up for the Menhaden Whisky Society to be kept abreast of all things whisky related at the Beaufort Hotel!

About the Menhaden Whisky Society

The Menhaden Whisky Society is a nod towards Beaufort’s heritage and rich fishing industry. Menhaden was the fish that built Beaufort.

Menhaden companies in Beaufort provided generations of workers with a dependable livelihood. Menhaden became synonymous with Beaufort.

Menhaden was a year-round fishery in Beaufort, and natives could often smell the fish being reduced in town, calling it “the smell of money”. That smell — was part of Beaufort’s culture and identity. The shad season began in May and lasted through mid-January.

Menhaden were caught in massive nets and then brought to Beaufort for processing. Reduction of menhaden generated products that were ground into fertilizer or minced into meal for cat food and dog food. This fish was also cooked and squeezed to extract their oil for use in paint, linoleum, soap, and Omega-3 dietary supplements.

The North Carolina menhaden fishery flourished up into the late 1960s. Beaufort was no exception. Beaufort Fisheries, Inc. would process about 110,000 pounds of fish meal an hour from start to finish.

In the 1970s, the state’s menhaden fishery began to decline due to a reduction in the numbers of fish and competition from foreign sources.

The last menhaden factory in North Carolina, Beaufort Fisheries, Inc., closed its doors in 2005. A few years later the structure was razed.

Although nothing remains of the structure, an old net reel is located on the grounds of the Beaufort Hotel. This giant net reel has become a lasting icon of the Menhaden Industry in Beaufort.

Today, the Beaufort Hotel sits on the site of the last remaining Menhaden plant in North Carolina.