Ever since the release of the historical drama series ‘Peaky Blinders’ by Steven Knight the world has seen a global increase in the interest in whiskey. No doubt that if you have watched the 5 seasons long series, there were times when you craved a glass of whiskey and an unfiltered cigarette. Over the course of the five seasons, the spirit has been used as a bonding tool, a negotiating tactic, a rite of passage, a romantic gesture, a family therapist, and, of course, a celebration ignitor. With so many qualities and implementations, it’s no surprise that you are throbbing for a glass after watching 20 minutes of an episode like Mr. Deckard here:
To be honest, I’ve never liked whiskey. I didn’t like the taste of it because of the high alcohol percentage and every time I would drink it, it would take me almost 45 minutes to finish a glass because every sip made my entire body convulse. However, six months ago I got a new roommate because Stefan my trustworthy Co-writer left to Barcelona for his study. This new roommate, named Tommas, opened the whisky world for me and my view of whisky took a turn.
Tommas’s Whisky Lessons
The first lesson was that there are many sorts of whisky with each their unique taste and history. Allow me to give a short overview of the most famous types of whisky.
Single Malt Whisky, the main ingredient is malted barley and is made from one batch at a single distillery.
Blended Whiskey, is a blend of different types of whiskey including coloring, flavor, and grans. Blended Whiskeys are often available for a low price point.
Bourbon Whiskey is an American-style whiskey made from corn (Tommas’s favorite).
Irish Whiskey, whiskey made in Ireland with often a more smooth flavor because it is made from a mash of malt.
Scotch Whisky (or Scotch), whisky made in Scotland with either malt or grain.
Japanese Whiskey is a quite modern whisky made in Japan that is created to taste as close to scotch as possible.
The second lesson was drinking and tasting in order to form your own pallet. And so in the past 6 months, Tommas slowly but forcefully got me to try out different sorts of whisky. After a while, my body stopped convulsing with each sip and I started to taste the differences in the whisky brands and types. It didn’t take long to discover my favorite type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Since each type of whisky has its own history we will cover in today’s Edit only one type but by far the most interesting one: Scotch Whisky.
The monks, again...
Let’s get started right away since it is quite a long but entertaining history. As Stefan pointed out in the last Edit, monks loved to drink. And thus it comes as to no surprise that primitive forms of whiskey were also invented by the monks. In order to make whiskey, one had to have knowledge about the distillation process. It is believed that the monks learned the art of distilling through their long pilgrimages to the Mediterranean and Middle East regions. The oldest record that mentions distillation is on a stone tablet that originates from old Mesopotamia where they used distillation to make perfume.
Wine, which was the most preferred drink to the monks, could not be cultivated in the region of Ireland. The climate was simply too cold for wine and so, being the alcoholics they are, the monks started creating an alcoholic beverage with the methods of distillation around the 15th century.
Uisge-What?
Not shortly after the monks invented the primitive form of whiskey, the knowledge of the distilling process made its way to Scotland. However, the Scots decided to give their own take on this distillation process by boiling their highland beers. So basically, boiled beer is malt whisky. The name of the liquor that came out of it was Uisge-Beatha (pronounced Oosge-Bath). When this word is abbreviated it results in the word ‘whisky.’
Whisky makes its very first appearance between 1387 and 1400 in the book ‘The Canterbury Tales’ by Geoffrey Chaucer. This is a book that exists of 24 different stories. In the Canon Yeoman’s Tale, which is by far the strangest yet most perplexing story of them all, two alchemists brew the most peculiar substances. One of these substances is made with the following ingredients: Tartre, alum glas, berme, wort, and aiguille. Put this together and you’ll have an old form of whisky.
The King is Thirsty
However, since this is a tale it thus isn’t a reliable source and so we have to look further. Luckily not many years later, whisky is mentioned in the Scottish Exchequer Rolls in 1494 which is a tax record of the monk John Cor Friar. The tax record states the following: “To brother John Cor Brian, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae 8 bolls of malt.” So, it’s basically a request of the king to the monk to make lots of whisky for him.
This thirsty king was King James the IV and it is this king we have to partially thank for the fact that we are now able to drink whisky all around the world. Somewhere around 1493, he traveled to the west of Scotland to the Isle of Islay, nowadays famous for its smoky whiskies. On Islay, the king met whisky makers and probably drank some of the stuff since he brought gallons of whisky back. After visiting Islay he directly went to Inverness to promote this delightful drink. Slowly but surely, citizens started becoming aware of this Scottish drink.
This sudden hype in whisky turned Scotland upside down. Monks were no more since a lot of monasteries collapsed and the art of distillation was passed on to the citizens. Local communities started brewing their own whiskies on a very small scale and whisky became an everyday life product. It was used as a medicine and stimulant in times when pandemics and harsh winters ruled.
It must however be noted that the whisky of then is by no means comparable to the whisky we know nowadays. Since the whisky was made on a very small scale with poor pieces of equipment the results weren’t consistent and the whisky often would be potent or even deadly!
Whisky War
With whisky becoming popular in Scotland the government thought: ‘Let’s tax the shit out of this product.’ And so they did. In 1707 the civil war against Oliver Cromwell could now be financed. At this time England and Scotland were united and in order to keep the Scots happy they decided to give them lower taxes.
After 6 years the war was over and so you would guess they terminated the tax on whisky. But noooo, they extended the tax to the Scots and only the Scots even though there were 45 Scottish members of Parliament. This led to the Malt Tax Riots in 1725.
While the Scots were avenging the English for touching their precious whisky, the Scots started looking for a way to sidestep this tax. A national network of smuggler routes, illegal distilleries, and numeral codes was created all to avoid the tax on their precious whisky. Ironically, these illegal distilleries started producing better whiskies than the distilleries that were actually paying the taxes because they didn’t have to follow strict rules set by the government.
Around 1820 the famous Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott prepared a toast for the king and chose to serve the king the illicit whisky from the Highlands of Scotland. From that moment on, the king demanded that he wanted to drink nothing but this Scotch Highland Whisky. This had a huge impact on the tax system…
The Modern Scotch
More and more people began recognizing the fact that the tax from 1707 wasn’t really sufficient and since there were no wars to fight anymore, money wasn’t that crucial. And so in 1817 they cut the whisky taxes by a third and went even further in 1823. The Excise Act of 1823, also known as the wash act, announced that the taxes were decreased, most restrictions were lifted and the tax was on the final product instead of the barley. The Act explained in incredibly great detail how whisky should be made and how a whisky distillery should be run. It really is an impressive piece of work.
Because of these new government rules, the whisky business in Scotland started to thrive. A significant number of new whisky distilleries and barley manufacturers started to pop up and the government finally had a reliable tax income. This Act was the fundamental redrawing of the essence of what whisky was and would become. It was from this time period when many distilleries that are famous nowadays started to operate, like Laphroaig, Glenlivet, Talisker, and Glenfiddich.
We’re not done yet…
The history of the Single Malt Scotch Whisky doesn’t stop here, because we haven’t talked about the invention of the continuous column which was groundbreaking for the economical benefits of making whisky, or the Phylloxera Plague in France which caused many wine lovers to turn into whisky lovers. There is so much more to talk about, however, we might cover this in a future Edit since I’ve run out of pages for this Edit.
By the way, you might have noticed I have used the terms ‘whiskey’ and ‘whisky’ quite often. And no, this is not a spelling mistake. Both are right however there is a difference between the two. Scotland, Japan, Canada, and India use the word ‘whisky.’ America and Ireland use the word ‘whiskey.’