Celebrate the golden age of whisky

The entire month of May is officially dedicated to honouring Scotland's national drink, with a number of events taking place to mark the occasion, writes

WHISKY is of such historical, cultural, social and economic importance to Scotland that the entirety of May has been designated ‘Whisky Month' to celebrate our national drink. The highlight of this occasion is World Whisky Day on May 21, when everyone is invited to enjoy a dram and celebrate the “water of life”.

It is not necessary to wait until then however, as a number of whisky-flavoured events are taking place throughout the month and beyond.

These include combined history tours with whisky tasting held in Edinburgh's ancient Blair Street underground vaults bv Mercat Tours and the Feis Ile festival on the whisky island of Islay from May 27-June 4. Festival events featuring traditional music, ceilidhs, golf, history and natural heritage can be combined with distillery tours.

Also this month the world's largest bottle of whisky, which contains the equivalent of 444 standard bottles, could break the record for the most expensive bottle ever sold when it goes to auction on May 25. The 32-year-old single malt from Macallan could fetch more than the current record price of $1.9 million.

WHISKY'S WORTH

FOR Scots, particularly, whisky is worth celebrating as the latest figures show the export value of Scotch whisky in 2021 was £4.51 billion, up £705 million compared with 2020 but down £403 million compared to 2019 because of the pandemic. The export volume of Scotch whisky in 2021 was 1.38 billion 70cl bottles – up 238 million 70cl bottles compared with 2020.

This means that, on average, 44 bottles of Scotch whisky are exported every second – up from 36 bottles per second in 2020.

The industry supports around 40,000 jobs in the whole of the UK with excise duty receipts accounting for £3.8bn in 2018 – more than 31% of all alcohol revenues.

In the same year, over £4.7 billion of Scotch was exported to around 180 countries – a record high.

TARGETING TOURISTS

THE prospect of a dram and a distillery tour also draws tourists, with a Scotland Visitor Survey showing that 20% of tourists enjoyed a whisky tour such as those provided by Clydeside Distillery in Glasgow, making it one of the top activities for overnight tourists on their trip to Scotland.

Like most other industries whisky has been hit by the pandemic but innovation is helping to expand markets by attracting new aficionados.

In recent years younger drinkers have been attracted by the use of whisky in trendy cocktails and many producers have grown their online presence during the pandemic to reach more people.

Another Scottish development is the creation of Wolfcraig – led by two legendary Master Blenders, Richard Paterson OBE, in collaboration with Ian MacMillan.

They have turned decades of friendship into a professional relationship to combine 100 years of shared knowledge of Scotch. The first release of this new partnership comes later this year with Wolfcraig 30-Year-Old Blend – finished in premium Pedro Jiminez Sherry casks.

There will be a very limited one off run of only 2000 bottles. You can only purchase by joining 'The Wolfpack' online at wolfcraig.com

Located alongside Glasgow's Riverside Museum and SSE Hydro, The Clydeside Distillery is one of many in Scotland that has thrown its doors open to the public

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