Chapter 11 Production of Scotch and Irish whiskies: their history and ...

Production of Scotch and Irish whiskies: their history and evolution 139‘uisgebaugh’, the Gaelic word for water of life.Uisge was corrupted first into ‘usky’, which finallybecame whisky after several centuries. Dr.Johnson sang the praises of this potable spirit,although in his Dictionary of 1755 it is listed under‘u’ and not ‘w’.Much to the chagrin of the Scotsman, it islikely that the first whisky was distilled not inScotland but in Ireland. The spirit was known inIreland when that land was invaded by theEnglish in 1170. In all likelihood the art ofdistillation was imported into Scotland bymissionary monks from Ireland. Two of today’smain centers of Scotch distilling, namely theisland of Islay and the Speyside town ofDufftown, were the sites of early monasticcommunities.Whisky, principally Scotch whisky, has formany years been one of the most populardistilled beverages in the world; and it was inScotland rather than in Ireland that its qualitiescame to be extensively appreciated. This hascontinued to the present day and in theintervening period many Scotsmen have feltcompelled to record for posterity their thoughtsand inspirations on the potable spirit. There arenumerous histories of whisky distilling in Scotland,some more comprehensive than others. Forgood general accounts, the reader is referredto the texts by Brander (1974), Daiches (1969),Ross (1970) and Ross Wilson (1970).Whisky distilling flourished in Scotland notleast because consuming the spirit helped theinhabitants to withstand the climatic rigors of thisnorthern region of Britain. The first recordedevidence of whisky production in Scotland is anentry in the Exchequeur Rolls for the year 1494.It reads “To Friar John Cor, by order of the King,to make aquavitae, eight bolls of malt”.Production of whisky was therefore beingcontrolled; and an Act of 1597 decreed that onlyearls, lords, barons and gentlemen could distillfor their own use. To many Scots of this erawhisky was a medicine, and in 1506 King JamesIV of Scotland had granted a monopoly formanufacture of ‘aqua vitae’ to the Guild of BarberSurgeons in the City of Edinburgh.Taxation on whisky production first appearedin the 17th century. Breaches of the monopolyregulations and the need to raise money to sendan army into England to help the EnglishParliament in its war against Charles I led to theAct of 1644, which fixed a duty of two shillingsand eight pence Scot’s on a pint of whisky (theScot’s pint was then about 1.5 litres). But the taxwas short-lived and was replaced by a malt taxthat later was also repealed.At the time of the Treaty of Union betweenScotland and England in 1707 there was a taxon malt in England, but not in Scotland. TheEnglish were irate; and in 1725 when LordWalpole’s administration decided to enforce thetax in Scotland, the first of a series of Malt Taxriots occurred. The English, meanwhile, hadcultivated a taste for French brandy, there beingvery little whisky consumed at that time outsideof Scotland. However around 1690 William IIIbegan to wage commercial war against theFrench, and imposed punitive taxes on importsof French brandy into England. The Englishreacted by acquiring a taste for gin, which wasdistilled locally. The scale of drunkenness thatdeveloped with the popularity of gin had to becontrolled by law; and the Acts of 1736 and 1713levied high taxes on gin manufacturers. Both ofthese acts contained clauses exempting Scotland,but not for long. The Parliament in London sawthe prospect of a rich harvest of taxes in thedistilleries of Scotland; and in a series of actsstarting in 1751, production of whisky in Scotlandwas increasingly subjected to taxation.The outcome of these punitive measures wasnot surprising. An extensive and thriving businessin illicit distillation of whisky grew up in Scotlandas described by Sillett (1965). Curiously, illicitproduction of Scotch hardly extended over theborder into England, although there are a fewrecords of the operation of illicit stills in theCheviot Hills west of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.Following the Act of 1823, which introducedmuch stiffer penalties for illicit distillation, and tosome extent because of the increased standardsof living in northern Scotland, illicit manufactureof whisky declined. Indeed, many erstwhile illicit