Drinks for everyone!

I hope you got through the dishes all right, because now you can read about three beverages to wash them down! This is long again, but not as long as the previous one. And, naturally, WHISKY is the main attraction.

Two traditional Scottish drinks:

Atholl Brose: (Athol Brose or Athole Brose)

1. mixture of oatmeal brose, honey, and whisky.
2. Cream is an optional addition
3. Legend: the Duke of Atholl during a Highland rebellion, overcame his enemies, by filling their well with this intoxicating mixture

Scotch Ale:
1. strong ale believed to have originated in Edinburgh in the 19th century
2. Strong Scotch Ale is also known as Wee Heavy (wee=little)
3. these beers tend toward sweetness and a full body
4. The distinctive flavour smoked malts when used in beers is reminiscent of whisky (Whiskey Ale)
5. popular worldwide, esp. In America, France and Belgium (breweries
6. A scotch in Brussels would mean one of these strong Scottish beers, traditionally served in a thistle-shaped glass

And now: WHISKY!

A brief history:
o The Gaelic "usquebaugh", Water of Life, phonetically became "usky" and then "whisky" in English
o Scotch Whisky, Scotch or Whisky, opposed to whiskey!!! (’Scotch’: protected term by Scotland)
o 1494: the earliest documented record of distilling in Scotland, distilling was already a well-established practice.
o Legend: St Patrick(from Spain and France) introduced distilling to Ireland in the fifth century AD and that the secrets traveled with the Dalriadic Scots when they arrived in Kintyre around AD500.
o originally applied to perfume, then to wine, and finally adapted to fermented mashes of cereals in countries where grapes were not plentiful
o aqua vitae, monasteries, medicinal purposes
o James IV fond of 'ardent spirits' – mass manufacturing started in his era
o the spirit produced in those days was probably potent, and occasionally even harmful (primitive equipment, lack of scientific expertise)
o dissolution of the monasteries, improvement in quality, monks had no choice but to put their distilling skills to use, knowlwdge spread
o attention of the Scottish parliament, which introduced the first taxes on malt and the end product, end of 17th cent.
o 1707: The Act of Union with England, distillers driven underground
o battle between the excisemen and the illicit distillers, Smuggling for some 150 years, Ministers of the Kirk, storage space under the pulpit, whisky transported by coffins, Clandestine stills in heather-clad hills, signaling systems, 1820s: 14,000 illicit stills were being confiscated every year, yet half the whisky consumed in Scotland was being swallowed painlessly and with pleasure, without contributing a penny in duty.
o Duke of Gordon proposed the House of Lords to produce whisky legally (profit!)
o 1823 the Excise Act was passed, smuggling seized almost completely
o present day distilleries stand on sites used by smugglers of old
o Scotch Whisky industry (malt whisky up to here)
o 1831: Grain Whisky, less intense, extended the appeal of Scotch Whisky
o By the 1880s: phylloxera beetle had devastated the vineyards of France, and within a few years, wine and brandy had virtually disappeared, Scots were quick to take advantage, by the time the French industry recovered, Whisky had replaced brandy as the preferred spirit of choice.
o Today: leading spirit in more than 200 countries


To be called Scotch whisky the spirit must conform to the standards of the Scotch Whisky Order of 1990 (UK), which clarified the Scotch Whisky Act of 1988, and mandates that the spirit:

Must be distilled at a Scottish distillery from water and malted barley, to which only other whole grains may be added, have been processed at that distillery into a mash, converted to a fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems, and fermented only by the addition of yeast,

Must be distilled to an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% by volume so that it retains the flavour of the raw materials used in its production,

Must be matured in Scotland in oak casks for no less than three years,

Must not contain any added substance other than water and caramel colouring,

May not be bottled at less than 40% alcohol by volume.

Time to hit the pubs! Cheers!