The first written of whiskey

The history of Scottish whisky can be traced back over almost 700 years, and is thought to have started with monks trying to distil beer in a search for the secret of eternal youth.

Along with Christianity, Christian monks exported the system of distillation from Ireland to Scotland by the 14th century, possibly earlier. The first Scottish reference to proper whisky is normally considered to be an entry in the Exchequer Rolls (tax records) for 1494.

The entry describes how the monk John Cor, from Lindores Abbey just north of the then Scottish capital Dunfermline, had bought in a considerable amount of malt, on the orders more-over of the whisky-loving King James IV of Scotland. John Cor was the distiller at Lindores Abbey in the Kingdom of Fife.

In the Exchequer Rolls it is apparent that John Cor’s purchase consisted of “eight bolls of malt to Friar John Cor, by order of the King, wherewith to make acqua vitae”. That volume is the equivalent of about 2,600 pounds (1,200 kg) in weight. This amount of malt would result in roughly 1,500 bottles, suggesting that distillation was well established in the late 15th century.

Aqua vitae means ‘water of life’ in Latin as does the Gaelic ‘uisge-beatha’, which was subsequently anglicised as ‘whisky’. Thus, goes the argument, this mention in 1494 marks the first record of whisky – or at the very least distilling – in Scotland.

By the mid-1970s, Scotch had become Scotland’s leading export and Great Britain’s No. 3 export.
The first written of whiskey

Andrew Usher, Scottish whisky distiller

Scotch whisky is Scotland’s leading indigenous product, and is of major importance to the economy not only of Scotland, but of the United Kingdom as a whole.

Although recorded in UK Exchequer accounts as far back as 1494, the Scotch whisky market in a form recognizable as such today is usually anchored in the early 1800s.

In 1860, whisky broker Andrew Usher started the blending of grain and malt whisky spirits to create a smoother and lighter tasting Scotch that met with favor in England. Andrew Usher (5 January 1826 – 1 November 1898) has being acclaimed as the father of the modern Scottish whisky industry.

The development of blended whisky by Andrew Usher provided a further boost as this increased the demand for grain whisky dramatically. Continuously distilled grain whisky became the major component of blended whisky, which was established as an international drink by the turn of the nineteenth century.

In 1885, Andrew Usher, William Sanderson and John M. Crabbie decided to establish The North British Distillery Company Limited on a pig farm in ten acres of stubble on the western outskirts of Edinburgh. The distillery came on stream in September 1887, producing just under 1 million liters of alcohol in the remainder of that calendar year.
Andrew Usher, Scottish whisky distiller