The term ‘whisky’ derives originally from the Gaelic ‘uisge
beatha’, or ‘usquebaugh’, meaning ‘water of life’. Gaelic is that branch
of Celtic spoken in the Highlands of Scotland.
For a whisky to be labelled Scotch it must be produced in Scotland. If
it is to be labelled Scotch it cannot be produced in England, Ireland,
Wales, America or anywhere else.
The distilling process was originally applied to perfume, then to
wine, and finally adapted to fermented mashes of cereals in countries
where grapes were not plentiful. The spirit was universally termed aqua
vitae ('water of life') and was commonly made in monasteries, and
chiefly used for medicinal purposes, being prescribed for the
preservation of health, the prolongation of life, and for the relief of
colic, palsy and even smallpox. There were monastic distilleries in
Ireland in the late 12 th century.
When King James IV was in Inverness during September 1506, his
Treasurer’s Accounts had entries for the 15th and 17th of the month
respectively:
‘For aqua vitae to the King. . .’ and
‘For ane flacat of aqua vitae to the King. . .’.
lt is thought that the aqua vitae was a spirit for drinking.
The earliest historical reference to whisky comes much
later, Mr J Marshall Robb, in his book ‘Scotch Whisky’, says:
‘The oldest reference to whisky occurs in the Scottish Exchequer Rolls
for 1494, where there is an entry of ‘eight bolls of malt to Friar John
Cor wherewith to make aquavitae’.
A boll was an old Scottish measure of not more than six bushels. (One
bushel is equivalent to 25.4 kilograms)
Flouting of the law eventually prompted the Duke of Gordon, on whose
land some of the finest illicit whisky in Scotland was being produced,
to propose in the House of Lords that the government should make it
profitable to produce whisky legally.
In 1823 the Excise Act was passed, which sanctioned the distilling of
whisky in return for a license fee of £10, and a set payment per gallon
of proof spirit. Smuggling died out almost completely over the next ten
years and, in fact, a great many of the present day distilleries stand
on the sites used by smugglers of old.
The Excise Act laid the foundations for the Scotch Whisky industry as
we know it today.
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