email from Chellah Padmanathan
After you have read the complete history you can award yourself a Ph D !
Some facts on Scotch Whisky-Great Education or should I say, A very
Spirited Education!
Mandates for a whisky to be called Scotch whisky are:
1. Distilled in Scotland.
2. Casked in Scotland.
3. Aged 3 years and 1 day in Scotland.
4. There is no requirement for a barrel of whisky that
meets
these criteria to be bottled in Scotland. 26 brands of Scotch are
bottled in India.
Some 20 million casks, over 500 million cases, are maturing in
warehouses in Scotland. This represents the equivalent of
approximately 10 billion bottles of Scotch after bottling.
Scotch is sold in more than 200 markets globally.
Scotch sells three times its nearest foreign whisky rival
A closed bottle of Scotch can be kept for 100 years+ and will still
be good to drink.
After opening, a half-full bottle of Scotch whisky will remain good
for five years.
The most expensive bottle of Scotch whisky today is Isabella’s Islay
($6.2 Million).
The oldest Scotch whisky on the market is the Aisla T’Orten 107
Years old, distilled in 1906 and available for $ 1.43 million
(£870,000).
The highest price paid at an auction for a bottle of Scotch Whisky
is $631,850 for a 6-liter The Macallan “M” Decanter by Lalique,
containing a 44.7% ABV Single Malt.
The highest price paid at an auction for a standard sized Scotch
Whisky is £288,000 (US$460,000) for a 64-year-old 42.5 % ABV Macallan
malt whisky.
Glenfiddich is the largest selling single malt in the world,
followed by the Glenlivet.
Johnnie Walker Red Label is the world's largest selling Scotch whisky.
Johnnie Walker’s premium whisky was originally known as 'John
Walker’s Extra Special Old Highland'. It was renamed Johnnie Walker
Black Label in 1909.
Johnnie Walker Black Label
is the world's best-selling deluxe whisky.
The Famous Grouse is now the most popular Scotch whisky in UK,
displacing Bell’s.
Mclelland’s (part of Suntory’s Bowmore) is the fifth most popular
single malt Scotch whisky in the U.S.A.
Experts advise you to drink Single Malt whisky neat or with a tiny
bit of water. The water supposedly ‘Releases the Serpent’ from the
whisky.
If there is a serpent, there is also an Angel. As it ages, 2.0-2.5 %
of the whisky maturing in a barrel is lost to evaporation every year.
Distillers refer to this as the ‘angel’s share’.
But the Devil has the
last word. The larger the barrel used to
mature whisky, the more the spirit that is absorbed by the wood and
lost, called by distillers the ‘Devil’s Cut’.
The most expensive country in which to buy Scotch is where it’s made, the UK.
Although their proof differs, standard drinks of beer, wine and
spirits (liquor) contain an equivalent amount of alcohol – 0.6 ounces
each. They’re all the same to a breathalyzer.
Glenturret is the oldest distillery in Scotland (1775), followed by
Bowmore (1779).
Glenturret, Oban and Glenlivet are the three oldest malt whiskies
currently sold.
William Lawson’s blended Scotch, a relatively unknown brand, is a
bestseller in Russia.
18,000 litres of Scotch whisky worth over $800,000 (£ 500,000) were
accidentally flushed down the drain at Chivas Brothers’ Dumbarton
bottling plant of in March 2013.
Earlier, Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse in Catrine village had
spilled 6,600 litres of whisky on 6 September 2011− mostly into the
River Ayr. They were fined £12,000.
There are a total of 109 distilleries in Scotland, 102 malt and 7
grain or multipurpose, according to the research briefings and fact
sheets presented to the UK Parliament.
In the UK, the five most popular Scotch blended
Whiskies are The
Famous Grouse, William Grant’s, Bell’s, Teacher’s and J&B Rare.
Johnnie Walker does not feature in the list of bestselling blends in
its home country.
The five most
popular Scotch Malt Whiskies globally are Glenmorangie
Original, Glenfiddich, The Glenlivet, Aberlour and Laphroaig.
With each bottle of Laphroaig that you buy, you are gifted a
lifetime lease of one sq ft of the distillery’s land, along with a
personalized certificate of ownership.
LVMH’s Glenmorangie
distillery is one of the smallest in the
Highlands and employs just sixteen craftsmen – ‘The Sixteen Men of
Tain’ - who have become synonymous with the Glenmorangie brand all
over the world.
Edradour is the smallest distillery in Scotland
- Three people run
the entire operation.
The fastest growing Scotch whisky in the world over the last five
years is Black Dog. India is a major contributor to its sales.
The Australian Wine Research Institute has introduced a measure
called a standard drink. In Australia, a standard drink contains 10 g
(12.67 ml) of alcohol, the amount that an average adult male can
metabolize in one hour.
Japanese owned Tomatin
is the largest capacity distillery in Scotland.
Haig’s Pinch(Dimple) is the fourth largest blended Deluxe Scotch
whisky in the world.
Persian authorities were required to rule twice on a case; once
when stone cold sobe r and again when intoxicated, in the belief of ‘in vino
veritas’ .
Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop on Canongate, when owned by the Cadenhead
family, was Scotland’s oldest independent bottler till taken over by J
& A Mitchell & Co. Ltd. in 1972. The name remains unchanged, even
though Mitchell & Co bottle and sell Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn
Single Malt whiskies, along with Campbeltown Loch and Mitchell's 12
year old. Its unique selling point is that customers can have a bottle
poured straight from a cask and labeled with a person’s name. When
sealed it has a label with the ‘born on date’, as whisky stops aging
as soon as it leaves the wooden barrel so each bottle is a unique
blend.
The source of the name Auchentoshan is Gaelic. It means 'corner of the field'.
Auchentoshan was probably started by Irish settlers, led by the MacBeathas.
Some sources claim that these Irish whisky distillers brought the
Irish custom of triple distillation with them. Auchentoshan uses
triple distillation.
Antique records from the year 1800 mention an (illegal) Duntocher
distillery, which may have been a predecessor to the legal
Auchentoshan distillery. A license for distillation was obtained in
1823.
The ‘e’ in
whiskey: Scotch whisky is always spelled without an ‘e’.
Most other nations such as United States and Ireland call their
similar spirits Whiskey. A very simple way to remember the spelling:
if it comes from a country without an ‘e’ in its spelling, then its
spelt Whisky. (e.g., Scotland, Japan, India, Canada, etc.).
Bruichladdich’s The Octomore is the heaviest peated whisky in the
world at 167ppm.
The Macallan claims that it has achieved success and fame through
its ‘Six Pillars’, viz., Spiritual Home, Curiously Small Stills,
Finest Cut, Exceptional Oak Casks, Natural Color and The Macallan
itself. It has released five expressions in honor of its pillars so
far, starting in 2005; the 50, 55, 57, 60 and 62-year-old single malts
in bespoke Lalique crystal. The 62nd was released on December 17, 2013
at a price of US$ 26,000.
Scottish Spirits: Scotch in A Can.Each can of Scottish Spirits will contain 12
ounces--about six
shots--of 80 proof ‘single grain Scotch whisky, or 72° proof UK,’
distilled and matured for three years in oak casks in Scotland. While
many are calling this a rip off, SWA is more guarded. The latex lid,
(patent pending) produced especially for Scottish Spirits, will allow
the can to be resealed and the product to be kept fresh and tasting
great. Diehard Scotch drinkers will no doubt protest at this
‘blasphemous act’, but are unlikely to affect the outcome.
95% of whisky manufactured in India is called Rum overseas. That’s
because most Indian whiskies are made from molasses.
The largest market in the world for whisky is
India.
CSD rates for Black Dog, Teachers, 100 Pipers, The Glenlivet, Vat
69, etc., are LOWER THAN duty free prices.
Scotch glasses are balloon shaped, not the shot glasses we all use.
95% of Indian whisky drinkers don’t know the difference between
Blended whiskies and Single Malts.
Whenever you see the world Single on the label of a bottle of Scotch
whisky, it means that whisky is the product of ONE distillery. Most
Single Malts, like Glenfiddich, are actually blends of 15-50 malts
manufactured by that company in ONE distillery.
There are 5 types of Scotch: Single Malts (e.g., Glenfiddich),
Blended Scotch (Johnny Walker series), Single Grain(Cambus 1991),
Blended Grain(Hedonism Blended Grain Whisky) and Blended
Malts(Ardbeg’s ‘Serendipity', created by mixing vats of Ardbeg and
Glen Moray malt whiskies).
Scotch in A Can:Scotch whisky is now being sold in a can in the United States,
putting a liquor prized for its pedigree into a humble container known
for its affordability and portability. Johnnie Walker has released Red
Label Blended Scotch Whisky with Soda, which will be available in both
345ml bottle and 375ml can formats. Cola mixes are at or below 5% ABV.
Approximately
15 percent of Scotch whisky is bottled overseas.
Glenfiddich
buys German Oak casks and sends them to Jerez, Spain. A
sherry-maker is paid rent to make a ‘fino’ sherry in this cask and
bottle it in 2 yrs. The cask is brought back to Scotland and filled
with a brand new make of raw malted whisky and matured for 10-15
years. The end result is an expensive Scotch whisky. Macallan does the
same, except that at 10-12 years, the whisky is shifted for another
2-5 years into once-used American bourbon casks that last held Oloroso
sherry. The end result is a bloody expensive Scotch whisky, most
popular in China for corporate gifts.
90% of Scotch sold is Blended Scotch. Some drinkers have just
realized that Single Malts are far superior to blends and that much
more expensive.
Old Smuggler, Vat 69, Black and White, Haig, Cutty Sark are examples
of 3-year old Scotch whiskies. Pig’s Nose, Cutty Sark rare, Mackinlay,
Famous Grouse, Black Bottle, Red Label are all 5-yr olds.
Red Label contains 12% Talisker single malt.
Most blends have 65-70% Grain whisky (made from wheat, rye or maize+
10% barley), 25-30% malt whisky and 0-5% neutral alcohol.
Whisky bottled in Scotland is only 70 proof (40% alcohol by volume,
ABV) and sold in 700 cc bottles. Elsewhere, it is 75 proof (42.8% ABV)
and sold in 750 cc bottles.
The more exclusive single malts tend to be SINGLE-SINGLE, i.e., a
single malt from a single barrel. These are normally bottled at cask
strength, i.e., 56-63% ABV. These hit you hard! I have one 60% ABV
bottle.
I bought 2 Glenmorangies-one Ealanta and one Nectar d’ Or @ $43 each
in 2011. LVMH bought off Glenmorangie. Now those two bottles cost $ 90
and 77 respectively.
CHEERS!
TODAY IS THE OLDEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN, YET THE
YOUNGEST YOU'LL EVER BE, SO ENJOY THIS DAY WHILE IT LASTS AND LIVE LIFE TO THE
FULLEST WHILE YOU CAN.
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A.Earle
Z. Fernando
149 A,
Kynsey Road,
Colombo
8,
Sri
Lanka.
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