‘Strange sorcery ...’ Whisky’s special spirit

Press, 13 May 1986, Page 8

‘Strange sorcery ...’ Whisky’s special spirit

‘lt takes the fire and water and air of Scotland to make scotch'

Whisky is the world’s most popular spirit. The pride of the Scots is cultivated in every respectable watering-hole in the world.

Indeed,at the Shangrila hotel in Singapore, so proud is the Peacock Lounge of its collection of whiskies, that the etablishment will stand you a glass of Chivas Regal if you ask for a nip not included in the over 50 brands it carries.

Scotland herself produces more than 300 names.

Whiskey has been adopted by connoisseurs the world over as their favourite aperitif. Kingsley Amis, in “Everyday Drinking” (a collection of his newspaper writing on liquid refreshments), regularly confesses to a prolific preference for the splendid drink.

In Graham Greene’s, “Our Man In Havana,” the climax is reached not with crude implements of war, but miniature bottles of whiskies collected in a lifetime of dedicated travel. The hero “dispatches” his opponent, but not before himself also undergoing the effects of too much of a good thing. Robert Bums, Scotland’s most famous son, dedicated verses to celebrate the cause of whisky. In “Scotch Drink,” the exexcise officer of a distil-

lery recommends an inexpensive and thoroughly agreeable way of settling disputes. (When neebors anger at a plear, An’ just as wud as wud can be, How easy can the barleybree Cement the quarrel! It’s ay the cheapest lawyer’s fee To taste the barrel.) If Highland twang sounds'* a trifle unfamiliar, a drop of whisky should raise the alcoholic level and the necessary understanding. Whisky presents such an international appeal that even the world’s second most industrialised economy would imitate it. While many lips may not have touched the stuff, few there are who have not spoken the name “Suntory.” But even as Japan manufactures more and more Suntory, it is Johnnie Walker, Born 1820 Still Going Strong, and other Scottish kin, for which the Japanese reserve their most inspired and discerning drinking. The world’s best-selling whisky started out as a small grocery, wine, and spirit shop in Kilmarnock, Scotland, 167 years ago. It was not until 1908 that the famous Red and Black slanted labels first appeared on today’s bottles.

The smiling striding figure complete with cane and gloves, is actually based on the original John Walker. Such is the demand for this drink that as early as 1874, two and a half million bottles of Johnnie Walker were produced every week, enough Scotch even then for many a country’s entire

population today. A 1910 poster went s far as to advertise that the famous distiller had 3,863,481 gallons of the precious liquid in bonded store!

The ready availability of Scotch whisky has not, fortunately, affected its quality. Quantity it seems, can go hand in hand with Highland specifications. Sadly though, because of the greater world demand, many Scots cannot now themselves afford their own drink, particularly the expensive malt whiskies, which by law can only be made from malted barley. One of Scotch whisky’s most important qualitycontrol measures was actually meted out by Winston Churchill when just after the war in 1945, he

dispatched this minute to the Ministry of Food: “On no account reduce the amount of barley for whisky. It takes years to mature and is an invaluable export and dollar earner. Having regard to our difficulties about export, it would be improvident not to preserve this characteristic element of British ascendancy.” But if Scotch inspired the collaboration of Churchill to preserve its formula, it is mainly to Spain that it owes so much of its colour. Whisky, like brandy, is at its purest, colourless. So are gin and vodka, the other famous spirits. The difference with Scotch and brandy is that they are matured in wood casks. Oak imparts colour to whisky. More importantly, perhaps, it rounds off the harsh edges of the spirit. The older the whisky, that is, the longer it has been aged, the more mellow and smooth it becomes. To this end, Spain has rendered a great service with its supply of cheap casks. And some of the second-hand ones would have already been used to mature sherry. Whisky that is stored in such casks extracts not only colour from the wood, but also some of the sweetness left behind from the sherry.

That is wny some whiskies can actually taste a dash sweet. Today, not all casks that are employed come from Spain, and those that are used are not necessarily old. If the Spaniards helped give Scotch so much of its colour, it is, however, the Italians (outside Scotland) who have become whisky’s greatest followers. In 1984 (the latest figures available), Italy drank more single-malt whisky (unblnded malt whisky from an individual distiller) than anybody else. From a total of 1.5 million cases (worth some SUS3OOM), Her Majesty’s Customs prize the Italians highest.

Italy took 35 per cent, Britain 21 per cent, the United States 12 per cent, France 10 per cent, West Germany 3 per cent, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia, Belgium —2 per cent each, Japan 1 per cent and others, 10 per cent.

Glenfiddlcn is me world’s number one selling malt whisky, and Glenlivet second, Many, of course, continue to swear by Macallan. To put perspective on the 1.5 million cases of single-malt whisky consumed in 1984, the figure represents but 2 per cent of all Scotch exported that year. The last word concerning the concoction must belong to a Scotsman. Anthony Troon, in the chapter Land of Scotch from the book, “Scotch Whisky” (Macmillan, England), expresses in writing what Scotch devotees have always enjoyed in their drink. “Of all Scotland’s mysteries, by far the greatest and most pleasurable is the strange and inexplicable sorcery which is set to work in the distillation of Scotch whisky. The elements in this sorcery spring from the country itself, its water, its air, its living plants, the nature of its earth and rock. Each of these gives to Scotch whisky something of itself in indefinable, immeasureable qualities ...”

And so we continue to slurp up Uisgebau, the Gaelic original for “Water of Life.” Whether it be a humble grain whisky or an exalted malt, we do so assured in the knowlege that only from Scotland does whisky taste the verily way it does, for ay in Anthony Troon’s words again, “It takes the fire and water and air of Scotland to make Scotch.”