I’LL DRINK TO STAT
What is the angel’s share, how prolific was Towser the Mouser and what’s whisky worth to our economy? ANNA BURNSIDE reveals all
TODAY is World Whisky Day, when dram lovers around the world toast Scotland’s national drink.
What better time to celebrate the drink that swells our economy and draws tourists galore to our shores?
We look at the numbers behind our most famous export.
47
Number of countries with events for World Whisky Day in 2019.
138
Number of distilleries in Scotland.
£55bn
Value of whisky to the Scottish economy. 44 Number of bottles of whisky exported from Scotland every second.
1644
When Scottish Government first taxed whisky. 33 Number of years that cask of The Macallan had been forgotten by the collector who bought it at auction.
50%
Percentage of German tourists who visit a distillery when in Scotland.
€40m
Value of sales of Aberlour malt in French supermarkets in 2018. Whisky is France’s top-selling spirit.
2018
The year the Single Malt Fund was set up, to allow investors to buy into rare collections and special editions. 3 Minimum number of years that whisky must be matured in casks in Scotland before it can be called Scotch whisky.
£4.5bn
Value of whisky exports in 2021.
$67.3m
Value of whisky exports to the US.
2
Number of “protected localities” areas that can appear on the label of whisky bottles under the Scottish Whisky Regulations 2009. They are Campbeltown and Islay.
3
Number of “protected regions” named in the same law. They are Highland, Lowland and Speyside.
180
Number of countries around the world where Scottish whisky is exported.
1494
The year whisky is mentioned in Scottish tax records for the first time.
28,899
Number of mice believed to have been caught by Glenturret distillery’s famous cat, Towser the Mouser, who retired at 24. She is in the Guinness Book of Records.
75%
Whisky as a percentage of Scottish food and drink exports. 64 Number of calories in average dram.
150
The age inventor Nikola Tesla thought he could reach by drinking whisky every day
4
Number of years a cooper’s apprentice has to work before being allowed to make his or her own whisky barrel.
11,000
Number of people directly employed in our whisky industry.
7000
Number of those jobs that are in rural areas, many in the Highlands and islands.
£4632
Price of a Manhattan cocktail at Skyview Bar in Manhattan. It’s made with 55-year-old Macallan, stirred with an oak stick from a cask of Macallan and served with ice made from the same water as the whisky.
2.2m
Number of tourists who visited a distillery in 2019 – it’s the third most popular thing £1,017,000 price at auction of a cask of The macallan last month. It was laid down in 1988 and had been held in bond at the distillery in moray since then. for visitors to Scotland to do.
£6.3m
Price at auction of “the perfect collection”, amassed by American bottling magnate Richard Gooding and sold after his death in 2020.
3900
Number of bottles in his collection.
£1m
Hammer price of the most valuable bottle in the collection, a Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare 60 Year Old.
1
Number of centilitres in world’s smallest bottle of whisky, from Grant’s
228
Number of litres in the world’s largest bottle of whisky, made by Famous Grouse.
1.7
Height in metres of the world’s biggest bottle.
5.14
Height in metres of Glenmorangie’s stills, the tallest in Scotland.
22million
Number of casks of whisky maturing in Scotland right this minute.
2%
Amount of whisky that evaporates in the barrel each year – “the angel’s share”.
1031
Number of whiskies at the bar of the Glenesk Hotel in Angus.