FURTHER READING
Veronica Schreuder shares archive material cared for by National Records of Scotland that charts the history of whisky distilling and consumption over the centuries
Recovering Scotland’s Slavery Past:The Caribbean Connection (Edinburgh, 2015), ed. T.M. Devine
Britain’s History and Memory of Transatlantic Slavery (Liverpool, 2017), ed. K. Donington et al
The Price of Emancipation: SlaveOwnership, Compensation and British Society at the End of Slavery (Cambridge, 2009), N. Draper
Legacies of British Slave Ownership: Colonial Slavery and the Formation ofVictorian Britain (Cambridge, 2014), C. Hall et al
The term Uisge beatha or ‘the water of life’, is derived from the Latin aqua vitae. Over time, this Scottish Gaelic name for distilled alcohol was shortened to uisge and in English became known as ‘whisky’. Many hundreds of years ago, well before the drink became synonymous with Scottish culture and tourism, aqua vitae was produced and employed by monasteries as a form of medicine. Religious houses had the time and resources to make whisky, with access to fresh water and grain.
The first recorded mention of whisky in Scotland is in a roll of royal accounts from 1494 kept by the Scottish Exchequer when
Brother Jon Cor, at Lindores Abbey, Fife, received malt for the purpose of creating whisky:
Et per liberacionem factam fratri Johanni Cor per preceptum compotorum rotulatoris, ut asserit, de mandato domini Regis ad faciendum acquavite infra hoc coputum, viii bolle brassi
(And by payment made to Brother John Cor by precept of the comptroller, as he asserts, by the Kings command, to make acquavite with the period of the account, 8 bolls of malt) (NRS, E38/306)
A ‘boll’ was an old Scots measure of weight, equivalent to about 140 pounds (63.5 kilos), so eight bolls was a substantial quantity of malt.
Treasurer’s accounts from the reign of James IV record the use of the spirit for improving the quality of gunpowder. It was used to wet the mixture of saltpetre, charcoal and sulphur, which was then rolled and left to dry as a powder. The king was also interested in using this ‘water of life’ to advance research in alchemy which was undertaken in his court.
Aside from its medicinal properties and use in battle, whisky also had one very popular purpose – getting people drunk! As the drink became more popular, distilleries began to spread across Scotland. The earliest reference to a distillery in the acts of the Scottish parliament appears to be in 1690. Duncan Forbes, 3rd Lord Culloden, petitioned the parliament for compensation after Jacobites plundered his estates in 1689. He secured about £4,500 plus the privilege of distilling whisky in perpetuity free of the annual duty (then about £22) at his distillery in Ferintosh.
By the 18th century, following the Treaty of Union in 1707, whisky was being exported and had become a sought-after commodity. Highland distilleries were in demand; some people believed their small-scale production using pot stills created extra flavour.Whisky consumption was quickly growing at this time, and this is reflected in increased production levels. For example, 275,000 gallons were distilled in 1738 – by the early
1750s this had grown to more than 500,000 gallons, making it more popular than ale. It is reckoned that the average Scottish male drank about one pint per week.
Developed and consistent methods of blending whisky in the later 19th century produced distinctive branded products. The bottles, labels and other advertising items illustrate the creative ways in which distillers marketed and sold their whiskies in Scotland and around the world. People consumed whisky copiously at Hogmanay, on fair days and other public festivals and holidays. It was commonly served after baptisms, weddings and funerals, as well as given to men during the course of their employment. In 1851, for example, George Gordon, later the marquis of Huntly, received a letter from his factor to say that whilst men were working for him he ‘was obliged to allow them a dram, but never above a glass a day’ (NRS, GD312/65).
By this date the sheer scale of whisky consumption was alarming both the Church and the authorities, leading to an era of restriction and disapproval. But even the temperance movement and official hostility to over-indulgence could only reduce rather than suppress the Scots’ continuing love of their whisky. It had become firmly entrenched in Scotland’s culture.
Over the centuries the government exerted various degrees of control over whisky distilling. As levels of grain fluctuated throughout the 1700 and early 1800s as a result of poor harvests, parliament restricted malt-making and banned distilling for temporary periods.
Parliament also recognised that they could gain an income from taxing the distilling of whisky. The first excise duty was levied in January 1644 at two shillings and eight pence per Scots pint (almost half a gallon) on ‘everie pynt of aquavytie or strong watteris sold within the country’.
After the union of 1707, excise duty partly paid for the cost of administering Scotland.
Excise officers collected the duties on distillers – and real effort, though never a real success, was put behind trying to quash illicit distilling. By the 1820s, for example, 14,000 illicit stills were confiscated every year, and more than half of the whisky consumed in Scotland was enjoyed without proper taxation.
Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, worked as an exciseman between 1789 and 1796 and his song The Deil’s AwaWi’Th’ Exciseman, first appeared in 1792. In it, he attacks his employers as he tells the story of the exciseman being taken away by the devil to join him in hell – promoting the negative view in society of the men who collected taxes and intercepted illegal goods.
From this period, more effective detection and penalties reduced illicit distilling and reformed duties encouraged the legal trade, laying the foundations for the modern industry. Today, over 1.14 billion bottles of whisky are exported each year, proving that whisky has maintained its popularity over the centuries. Slàinte Mhath! (Cheers!)
Veronica Schreuder is an archivist at National Records of Scotland.
SOURCES
‘King James IV’ and Remembering the age of excisemen’: www. scotchwhisky.com
Forbes,Whisky and Robert Burns’, Clan Forbes website:
www.clan-forbes.org/whisky
‘Story of Scotch’, Scotch Whisky Association website: https://scot. sh/swa
‘The Deil’s awa wi the exciseman – a look at the paradoxical heart of Robert Burns’, Sing Out! website:
https://scot.sh/singout