Scotch whisky spelling whiskey history single malt origins

It's not because Irish or American whiskeys are 'inferior' in any way.
Actually, I've tasted a few that put most Scottish malts to shame. It's just a matter
of personal taste, really. Over the years I've come to taste some great American
'bourbon' and Irish whiskies, but few of them had the individuality and character
that I love in single malt whiskies. Individuality and character are not appreciated
by everybody though - as my limited social circle proves...
 
When I was younger (and dumber) I still thought that 'What is the best whisky?'
was a sensible question. I've since learned that it's not - at least not in terms of
some scientifically measurable way. However, there are flavour profiles and some
whiskies are more popular than others. If many peatheads love a certain bottling,
chances are that other peat lovers would appreciate that expression as well.

But don't just take my word for the superiority of malt whisky. Why don't you make an informed decision by yourself? Just compare an Irish
or American whiskey (or perhaps even a grain whisky or a blended Scotch) to one or more of the Scottish single malts mentioned in chapter 7.
You won't be bored by the experience, I promise - provided you take your time and pay attention. If you've never tried a single malt whisky
before and your first encounter is with the Laphroaig 10 years old, you're in for a big surprise, and I can't guarantee it'll be a pleasant one.
You'll either love it or hate it, there's no 'middle of the road'. But wait a minute! We're getting ahead of ourselves once again...
We have nine more chapters to go. So, check out the next chapter on 'vocabulary' for the proper whisky language.

(*) = Under the mistaken impression that these pages would be read only by intelligent beings, I felt like
cheering up the (sometimes slightly boring) theoretical information with a few fanciful (but not factual) stories.
I just assumed that everybody would be able to distinguish between cold, hard facts and my warped wit, but
then I received a message from a reader from South America who wanted to know if the book 'Distillation for
Fun & Profit' was available as a facsimile edition or reprint. No it's not - because I made the whole thing up.
It was a 'colourful illustration' of the early days, if you will. The same goes for the 18th century photograph of
the distillery, by the way - photography wasn't actually invented at the time (and I think they still wore wigs).
So, I guess I'll have to try to keep my wit in check in the upcoming chapters if the guide...

Nobody likes to pay taxes. Hiding in the Highlands, many Scots managed to elude the English tax collectors time after time. Only after the taxes were reduced following the Excise Act of 1823, most distilleries were legalised. Production practices gradually became more professional and the fame of the Scottish whisky started to spill over the borders into England. Still, the whisky industry remained a largely local affair for many years.

Things changed considerably after a huge wine louse infection (Phylloxera)
in the 19th century wiped out the vineyards in France, and pretty much the
entire brandy industry along with it. The popularity of whisky grew quickly,
both in England and overseas. Scotch whisky production got another boost
during prohibition in the USA. Decades of legal distilling hadn't dulled the
Scottish smuggling instincts and they jumped into the American market.
When prohibition ended, 'Scotch' whisky had already earned its place in
the USA market. The fact that the word 'Scotch' is now synonymous for
whisky (at least in the USA) proves the incredible success of the Scots.
In fact, they're SO succesful that they're running out of barley...

Laphroaig (depicted at the right) was the only Scotch whisky that could still be imported
and sold legally by apothecaries during the prohibition that plagued the US in the 1920's.
The reason was its medicinal taste. I guess the government officials who tried it couldn't
imagine anybody drinking the stuff out of their own free will -  it's not for the faint of heart.
To the best of my knowledge, Laphroaig was the only Scotch (!) whisky with a legal status
during the prohibition era. However, both Four Roses & Buffalo Trace (bourbon distilleries
from the US) had licenses to distill bourbon for medicinal purposes during those dark days.
Incidentally, the opnion of the medical community about whisky has changed since then...

Malt Madness is dedicated to one particular type of whisky; - and that would be Single Malt Scotch whisky, to be precise.
I'll get back to 'single' and 'malt' part in the next chapter - first I'd like to explain my (slight) preference for Scotch whisky.

Malt whisky production became sort of an 'industry' in eighteenth century Scotland.
Apart from fondling their sheep and shaving their legs, the farmers of Scotland had very
little entertainment in those dark days before the invention of the internet. Shortly after
the recipe for whisky was published in 'Distillation for Fun & Profit', the Scots had found
themselves a new hobby and dozens of distilleries were established within a decade. (*)

As this picture of a distillery in the 18th century proves,
the crews working the distilleries were about the same
size as they are today. But there have been important
innovations over the centuries. In the old days every
distillery employed its own dog to hunt cats (who were
believed to be pets for witches). When they discovered
that mice were actually more detrimental to profits than
witches, the dogs were gradually replaced by cats.  (*)

Fortunately, they didn't have automobiles yet in 1494...
Instead, they used far more traditional methods of killing themselves and others - like alchemy, syphilis and claymores.

The earliest known Gaelic (the old language spoken in
Scotland and Ireland) records refer to malt whisky as
'Uisgebaugh'. This evolved over time to "Uisge Beatha",
related to the Latin phrase 'Aqua Vitae' (see the quote
at the right). Those among you with a proper education
should know that this translates as 'The Water of Life'.
 
And this is a good a place as any to point out that this
'water of life' can easily  turn into 'water of death' if you
combine drinking and driving in these modern times with
inventions like cars - so it would be best to avoid that...

Interesting titbit of trivia; fellow
malt maniac Davin from Canada
pointed out that the 'decision'
to spell Irish whiskey with an
'e' was made relatively recently.
Actually, you can still find old
bottles of Irish whisky on eBay
these days without the extra
'e' on the label of the bottle.

So, let's pick up another hot potato - is there difference between whisky and whiskey?
When you check your English dictionary you'll find that the word 'whisk(e)y' is spelled in two ways; either with or without an 'e'. I'm not a linguist (so I don't know the proper phrase to describe this weird linguistic phenomenon), but let's call it 'the fluid E' for now. As far as I know, there's no logical explanation for this, but when a whisky is produced in Ireland or the USA, it's usually spelled with an 'e' as in 'whiskey' - otherwise usually just as 'whisky'.

So, if a whisky was distilled in Scotland, Japan, France, Australia, India, Thailand, etc.), the label usually says 'whisky' - without the superfluous 'e'. Don't ask me why; it doesn't make sense to me either...   I guess it's just one of those inexplicable things in life one simply has to accept, like the popularity of rap music or spontaneous combustion. From now on I'll use 'whisky' as a group name that includes both whisky and whiskey.

The focus of Malt Madness and this Beginner's Guide is mostly on the MALT whisky from Scotland. The Advanced Beginner's Guide provides more information about whiskies from other countries like Ireland, the USA, Japan and Taiwan - but you can forget about those for now...

The bottom line is that several different spellings are used.
Many people enjoy a glass of whisk(e)y while writing about it, so I've also seen spellings like 'whiksy' and 'wihskie'.