THE ARI OF DISTILLING WHISKY REMAINS IN SCOTLAND

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 8, 6 March 1952, Page 7

THE ARI OF DISTILLING WHISKY REMAINS IN SCOTLAND

When whisky is not so plentiful in many New Zealand Hotels, the following article "The Scotsman and His Drink," written by D. L. D. on the Melbourne age is of interest to readers. In London in 1908, was fought the last great battle between the Highlanders , and the Lowlanders: of Scotland. The battleground was a courtroom: , representing the Highlands were the distillers of malt whisky; their Lowland opponents were the distillers of grain whisky. The matter in dispute was "What is Scotch Whisky?" and neither contestant pulled his punches before the Royal Commissioner, Lord James of Hereford, appointed to determine the matter. "Grain whisky," said the malt distillers, "is a tasteless disfillate which eould be made from almost any material from grain and garbage to roots and rags. yTo.add a percentage of malt whisky to this silent and raw alcohol, colour it with a chemieal, and to call the result Scotch whisky, is a fraudulent deception which could be imitated in many parts of the world and would deprive IScotland of its exclusive right to' the special character of whisky." Impurities. "Malt whisky," replied the Lowlanders, "contains fusel oil and other impurities." They adduced medical evddence to support their assertion that blended whisky was less injuril ous to health than malt. • ^ The Royal Commissioner found for the Lowlands. Whisky, he said, "was a spirit obtained by distillation from a mash of cereal grain, * saccharified by the diastase of 9 malt." He found no distinction . between malt and grain spirits, or even between Scotch and Irish whisky. As the malt distillers had sought to prove that the product of the Lowlands was not Scotch whisky it was a defeat for them. Nevertheless, as Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart points out in his book "Scotch" (Putnam), the whisky of Scotland owes its flavour, which so far has not been reproduced in any other country, to the malt spirit which is blended in with the grain, and the flavour of the malt spirit is something no man understands, something springing from peat and granite, soil and water. Flavour. The author believes the art of distilling whisky came to Scotland ori0 ginally from Ireland. Until well b on into the second half of the 19th. century whisky was mainly a Scottisb drink, almost unknown in England. And by whisky was meant 0 the malt whisky manufactured in the £ pot still which nearly every home possessed. » With the • inveption of the patent still special, reTative cheapness and independence of geographical locality enabled the production of grain whisky in large quantities. In 1860 blending was introduced to add the flavour of -the malt to the product of the grain, and Scotch whisky began the march to world fame and markets. "Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart traces the history of (Scotch whisky (the name is from the Gaelic uisgebeatha — water of life), from its origins to the present day, but nowhere is he more interesting than in his short biographies of the men who built it up from a domestic drink to a world commodity. "The %ig Five." The "Big Five" of Scotch were the Dewars, the Walkers (born 1820, ^ still going strong), James Buchanan, the Haigs and the Mackies. They were men who believed that hard work brings its own rewards and > \

who knew the value of advertising. Tommy Dewar arrived in London in 1885 and determined to make himself known in a hurry. He took a stand at the Brewers* Show and drowned proceedings with the skirl of t'he bagpipes. Journalists swarmed round and the next morning all London knew him. Alexander Walker, sori of "Johnnie," on his visits to London, made use of a specially made phaeton, drawn by two superb ponies; the Haigs used tbe same device in Berlin, but the vehicle was driven by a strapping Highlander in full dress. James (Buchanan made his first appearance in London in a beautifully cut frock coat, bigh single stick-up collar, pearl tie-pin, orchid in buttonbole, glossy top bat and malacca cane. He drove a buggy with redspoked wheels, drawn by ? beautifully bred black pony. The men became known and their product became known — so well known that it became also the joy of the tax gatfherer. Today the Highlander cannot legaljy make his own whisky, nor can he afford to buy it. Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart makes an# interesting story of Scotch, but he gives, perhaps, an impression he would not have wished to — that the people and resources of his country are devoted entirely to the making of whisky for the world. It is an impression which a little reflection soon corrects.