Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History
MacLean, Charles. A Liquid History. London: Cassell Illustrated, London, 2003. 288 pages.

In a television commercial, a somnolent professor drones to his moribund class. "History," he mumbles, and suddenly a sprightly young thing jumps up shouting "History?? I love history!! First something happens, then something else, so sequential. Thank you First Guy for writing history down. Let's go study."

Charles MacLean did not have the benefit of First Guy's words when he penned Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History. Although MacLean makes reference to scholarly works on distillation from around 850AD the early beginnings of whisky are lost in time, so MacLean focuses on the first 500 years of recorded Scotch whisky history. His enthusiasm matches the young history student and MacLean succeeds in injecting that enthusiasm into a rollicking good read packed with anecdotes and peopled by some rather strange characters.

The average aficionado's knowledge of whisky's history could probably be summarized thusly: The first whisky was likely distilled in Ireland; about 500 years ago Friar John Cor became the first recorded person to make whisky; the word whisky comes from "Usquebaugh" or "uisge beatha," Gaelic for aqua vitae or water of life; Glenlivet was one of the first popular single malts; Glenfiddich brought malts to the world's attention; and somewhere in the 1980's a bunch of distilleries went out of business.

Of other knowledge, most would say that it's not whisky until it has aged at least three years, and there is an 'e' in Irish whiskey, but not in Scotch whisky. Well, MacLean takes nearly 300 pages to fill in the blanks and there's nary a dull moment as smugglers, gaugers, politicians, home distillers, boards of directors, colourful entrepreneurs and a host of others slug it out for their piece of the action. The history of Scotch whisky has been one of constant struggle: the struggle against time and weather, against governments and gaugers, against thieves and competitors and sometimes against logic and reason. It's all there, waiting to be discovered in A Liquid History.

Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History begins, quoting the Exchequer Rolls of 1494-95 which provide the first written reference to distilling in Scotland. "To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of malt." A boll (like a bushel) is a measure of volume which for malted (bere) barley, would weigh about 240 lbs (almost 110 kg.) and could be expected to produce about 200 litres of raw whisky. Useful details like this, which might interrupt the action, are often found in endnotes. Though scholarly, A Liquid History appears intended to be read rather than used strictly as a reference.

Making whisky began as a way to preserve surplus grain which would otherwise rot in the damp storage conditions that prevailed 500 years ago. Excess grain was mixed with water and fermented naturally into a primitive beer. Although less so, the resulting beer was itself somewhat perishable until Europeans discovered the preservative property of hops. Hops don't grow in Scotland, though, but by distilling these early beers, the alcohol content could be raised to a level where decomposition was prevented. Somewhere along the way, preservation of excess crops as the primary motivator gave way to the pleasures of drinking whisky which in times of crop shortages brought competing pressures.

The pleasures of Scotch whisky were sometimes justified by the supposed salutary effects and for a long period, whisky was viewed as a medicament, if a somewhat pleasant one. The convivial benefits were no doubt the true source of its popularity, but its role as an elixir proved most beneficial to its trade during the US prohibition years when boat-loads of Scotch whisky found their way to ailing Americans. This folk medicine, (or more often 'nudge-nudge- wink-wink' justification), has re-gained some respectability in recent years with the discovery that whisky does indeed have some anti-oxidant properties. The association of Christian churches with the temperance movement is itself tempered by descriptions of early sermons promoting the drinking of whisky rather than the demon tea. My, my, how times do change.

Alcohol was not first distilled as a beverage, and whisky too had other, earlier, uses. Alcohol is an excellent solvent and early Scotch whisky was often flavoured with spices, herbs and berries. Preserving those scents, flavours and medical properties may well have been the original purpose of dissolving them in whisky. Another early use for whisky, we learn, was to improve "incorporation" during the manufacture of gunpowder. The early use of gunpowder, in turn, to determine the "proof" of whisky is well-known. Years later gunpowder was also proved useful in the production of whisky, albeit tangentially, by George Smith who always carried two pistols to protect his lucrative whisky business in Glenlivet. It is the characters, like Smith, who so vividly animate this book.

Since 1644, when the Scottish Parliament first instituted excise duties on it, whisky has been a government cash cow, and much of the folklore and tradition around making whisky derive from the circuitous logic of politicians. Do you prefer Highland whisky to Lowland? Well be advised the line dividing Highlands from Lowlands was established to demarcate and give a break to the distilleries least likely to escape taxation. As circumstances changed, so did the location of the line. While Glengoyne, for example, now calls itself a Highland whisky, it was long located in the Lowlands. A simple re-location of the Highland line allowed Glengoyne to distil in the Highlands, but mature in the Lowlands right across the road. The distillery itself has not moved.

Technical changes in whisky production processes have occurred throughout its history, although not all technical changes were improvements. As often as not change was driven by a desire to beat the tax man, and many of Scotch whisky's conventions are there not because traditional means produced a better spirit, but because laws directed or drove production in certain directions. For example, when duties were based on an assumption that stills could be charged but once a day, distillers found ways to charge them every few minutes. Large, shallow, flat-bottomed, pot stills ran almost continuously. This rapid distillation was great for profits, but not for quality. In the Highlands, meantime, escaping the gauger meant being able to pick up and move on a moment's notice. Highland stills were thus small and portable and the whisky much richer and oilier.

The whisky making process has never been static, but has been constantly evolving as it continues to do. Among many others, one giant step forward came with the development of the patent still allowing continuous distillation of grain whisky which opened the door to the production of blends. Blended whisky now makes up about 95% of all Scotch whisky sold at retail. Also among the significant changes are those of the past twenty-odd years many of which took place in distant boardrooms rather than at the distilleries. The book meticulously describes the closings, openings, mergers and acquisitions that changed the corporate face of malt whisky in the past few decades. It also documents the logarithmic growth in demand for malt whisky in the past two decades, but not before reminding the reader that as far back as 1871 Laphroaig, Aberlour, Glenlivet and Glen Grant were sold in London as 'single whiskies'. Those who lament current production changes would do well to bear whisky's long history in mind.

MacLean gives the nod to Ireland as the first place to distil whisky and notes that most of the whisky sold in Scotland even into the 1860s was Irish whiskey. Interestingly, the Scottish spelled whiskey with an "e" until just less than a hundred years ago. In Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History numerous other well-know facts are explained (or explained away). One comes away from A Liquid History having learned, from a historical perspective, not so much how to make the best-tasting whisky, but why Scotch whisky, both malts and blends, tastes as it does today.

MacLean has divided the first 500 years of known Scotch whisky history into 12 logical, consecutive time periods, which in turn, fall neatly into twelve chapters. Recording the history of Scotch whisky in fewer than 300 pages has certainly left some stones unturned, or less well-turned than the author may have wished. Every first edition has some typographical errors, but few as delightfully entertaining as this truncated sentence on page 270: "Loch Fyne Whiskies was founded in the picturesque and historic town of Inverary in 1992 by Richard Joynson, who until then had been a fish."

An engaging and informative read, A Liquid History is printed on heavy paper and colourfully illustrated. Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History carefully treads a line between text book, headed for the school library and popular work for the whisky buff. Highly recommended to both.

This review first appeared at: http://www.maltmadness.com/mm14.html#14-07
Eventually I would like to migrate all of these reviews to maltmaniacs.org