And there you have it; the earliest verifiable note
referring to the distillation of spirits in Scotland. Now, distillation has been around for a long
time. People were distilling alcohol way before it
was done in Scotland; over 1000 years before.
But for the purposes of Scotch we’ll start right here.
There are a few theories regarding how the process of distillation
was brought to Scotland. The most
commonly held belief was that it was shared by monks who found themselves
without a monastery and were willing to part with the knowledge for a place to
live.
At the same time, early Scottish farmers were growing
barley. It’s a hardy plant that grew
well in the area and could be used to feed both people and livestock. On occasion, when they had more than they
could use and feasibly store, the surplus would often find itself distilled
into uisge beatha or “whisky” for short.
Originally uisge beatha, which is Gaelic for “Water of
Life”, was used for medicinal purposes.
It was prescribed for the relief of colic, palsy and other ailments. However, it wasn’t long before the “healthy”
started to see how happy the sick were.
After that, everybody was getting “medicated” at weddings, parties,
festivals, and in the privacy of their own home.
It also became a source of trade and income, with distillers
trading their spirits for a host of commodities that were necessary for the
running of a homestead or little luxuries.
And the trade wasn’t limited to just Scotland, they also traded with
folk South of the border (England.)
Unfortunately for the early distillers (who started to see a significant
increase in there good fortunes), it wasn’t long before the Scottish Parliament
wanted a piece of the action.
In 1644, two things happened simultaneously: Whisky
production was officially taxed and the dawn of illicit whisky distilling
began. The stories of whisky smuggling and
tax evasion are many and varied, to include (but not limited to): smoke signals
to warn of approaching tax collectors, hidden barrels in chapel pulpits, and whisky
smuggled in coffins.
In 1707, there was a Union of the Parliaments of England and
Scotland, and the English revenuers crossed the border to begin their
lengthy attempts to bring whisky production under control. Their attempts to control licensed
distilleries and curb illegal stills met with little success. By 1780, there were about eight legal
distilleries and 400 illegal ones.
There are two big changes that revolutionized the industry
and launched Scotch whisky into the world market. First, was the invention of the column still,
also known as the Coffey Still, which streamlined the process in producing
alcohol from grain and malted grain. The second,
and in my opinion the more important factor, was the phylloxera aphids epidemic
that destroyed most of the vineyards in England and Europe, most notably in
France.
While tax collectors were cracking down on illegal
distilleries to the North, the English were enjoying “proper” libations like
Brandy, Port wine, Sherry, and Gin. When
the production of wine grapes was catastrophically reduced due to the epidemic,
there was a sudden lack of Brandy, Port wine, and Sherry. Gin was still available, but it was barely
regulated at the time and was considered a drink for the poor. The decidedly “not-poor” needed an
alternative, and their neighbors to the North had the solution. By the time the vineyards had recovered,
Scotch had firmly and irrevocably established itself in the drinking world.However, that is not to say that there weren’t problems. The worst of which was the lack of regulation. Since everybody wanted to get into this cash cow they were producing anything they could, as fast as they could, without any kind of quality control. In fact, by 1870 Scotch had developed a reputation for being a very low quality whisky. This seriously undermined the confidence of people purchasing Scotch since there was no way for the consumer to tell the difference between a good bottle and bad.
So the Irish distillers, who were also up and coming, decided to make a bid for number one. But they had to make sure their buyers knew what they were buying. So to differentiate their product from the lesser quality Scotch whisky, they added the “e” in “whiskey.” Since Irish whiskey is triple distilled, it offered less variation and greater consistency which consumers were quick to pick up on.
There is very little that will motivate a government and its people to cooperate quickly than the loss of income. Within a brief period of time definitions, regulations, and reasonable taxes were put in place. Since that time, Scotland has taken great pains to protect the quality and reputation of Scotch whisky.
The most recent protections in place since the writing of this piece are the Scotch Whisky Regulations Guidance of 2009. I mentioned an abridged version of this in an earlier blog. Here is a more detailed definition. A Scotch Whisky is a whisky:
(a) which has been
produced at a distillery in Scotland from water and malted barley (to which
only whole grains of other cereals may be added) all of which have been:
(i)
processed at that distillery into a mash;
(ii) converted at that distillery
to a fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems;
(iii) fermented at that distillery
only by the addition of yeast;
(b) which has been
distilled at an alcoholic strength by volume of less than 94.8% so that the
distillate has an aroma and taste derived from the raw materials used in, and
the method of, its production; (c) which has been wholly matured in an excise warehouse in Scotland in oak casks of a capacity not exceeding 700 liters, the period of that maturation being not less than three years;
(d) which retains the color, aroma and taste derived from the raw materials used in, and the method of, its production and maturation, and to which no substance other than water and plain caramel coloring may be added.
