Whisky wafts off at 165M bottles a year

Press, 23 October 1984, Page 17

Whisky wafts off at 165M bottles a year

NZPA-AAP London The angels over Scotland are extremely happy. They are consuming about 165 million bottles of grand old Scotch whisky a year, more than the 55 million population of the United Kingdom gets through. It is the result of evaporation from the oak casks used to mature whisky. A spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association, Mr Jeffrey Wormstone, said that this, veritable loch of evaporating alcohol was affectionately known as “the angels’ share.” “There are a lot of very happy angels over Scotland,” he told A.A.P. In fact, the angels are the distillers’ second biggest customer after the United States, with the United Kingdom in third position. About 2 per cent of the entire production of Scotland wafts into the atmosphere each year to perfume the heather, and keep

the angels in high spirits. “Being Scotsmen, we wouldn’t just waste it if we thought , it could be saved but what is left behind is improved by the process,” Mr Wormstone said. While the angels get theirs free, the noble dram is now costing its fans less in Britain. It has dropped from about ?19 a bottle in 1979 to $l5 in 1984. It has been prompted by the huge surplus, which is mainly due to what Mr Wormstone calls the health kick.-, “People are generally drinking less and have moved to white spirits and white wines in the belief that they are healthier,” he said. ’ < It is a trend that the association believes is ending in Britain. So is another tradition — the belief that a Scotsman would never drink his whisky with the tainting presence .of water, ice or

soda. In fact, the association is promoting it in Scotland as a good mixer. Many Scotsmen nowadays, Mr Wormstone says, automatically put a dash of lemonade into their dram. “A bottle of lemonade is always put on the bars of Scottish pubs free for the drinkers to add to their Scotch,” he said. Mr Wormstone doesn’t see this phenomenon as the end of a great tradition, more a freedom of choice to be wholeheartedly encouraged when there is a. surplus to be got rid of. “After all, Robbie Burns said that freedom and whisky gang together.” However, there is still a school of purists — he says the Highlanders generally refuse to consider water in their. Scotch, let alone lemonade. “A Highlander likes two things ’naked and one of .them is still his whisky,” Mr Wormstone said.