The history of whisky is a little like its development : rich and colourful ! Over the centuries, whisky has been a reflection of the major developments in the history of the society where it was produced. What to carve out a sacred reputation coupled with a strong personality.
Saint Patrick, father of whisky ?
The technique of distillation goes up in old Egypt for the production of perfume. First productions of uisge beata (of Latin aqua vitae: brandy) seem to go up as for them in XVe century, in monasteries. According to legends, it is indeed the Father John Cor [ or Saint Patrick himself at the 5th century ] which would have imported the technique into Ireland, then in Scotland.
An artisanal manufacture
During the sixteenth century, distillation was using stills of modest size (capacity of 100 to 250 litres), and most of the time on farms.
Technical improvements on the stills (invention of serpentine water cooling and the lengthening cooling coil of the collars of the stills) allowed a significant rise in the quality of produced alcohols.
The arrival of taxes
It is in 1644, in order to finance the ceaseless wars of the time, that the first law on the excises was voted by the Scottish Parliament. In 1707, a treaty was signed between England and Scotland : it established equal taxes on both sides of the border. A tax on malt was voted in 1713. This tax had two consequences : the rise of the importation of the cognac (! ) and appearance of the grain alcohols (not malted cereal), not-taxed, but which had an important effect on quality of the finished product.
Whisky is its name
In England, a tax on gin had resulted in a huge increase in the production of brandy in Scotland, from about 500,000 litres in 1708 to 1,250,000 litres in 1736. However, documents from the time show that most of the production was consumed locally ... It's still in the eighteenth century that the Irish term "uisge beata" would be changed and give birth to the term uisky or whisky.
Whisky and smuggling
The disastrous harvest in 1756 forced the government to ban the distillation throughout the country to avoid starvation. The production of legal whisky fell of 90% in a few months. The illegal production and smuggling took advantage, seeing its production multiplied by 10 !
Whisky and Economic Issues
Special measures were taken in favour of Highlands, partly to compensate for the consequences of the food shortage. The law envisaged a maximum capacity for the stills and authorized distillation only local barley, and in the other hand, the taxes were strongly decreased. The whisky producers of Lowlands also shouted to discrimination; this movement of protest obliged the government to take complementary measures in 1785, prohibiting the export of the whisky of Highlands (less strongly taxed) outside from the territory. The responsibility for the landowners in the event of infringement made on their grounds was removed.
Highlands or Lowlands?
Prohibition to export apart from Highlands encouraged once again smuggling. The difference between the whisky of Highlands and that of Lowlands came mainly from the difference in the shape of the stills. The form of those of Highlands was more capable to produce alcohols of quality.
Competition and industrial revolution
The end of XVIIIe was marked by the industrial revolution. Many industries, in particular textile, iron and steel (to build the textile machinery) and the coal mines (for the iron and steel industry) made their appearance. In same time, competition beat its full between the English producers with gin and the Scottish whisky distillers .
A new law prevented the export of whisky from Lowlands to England, leading to the bankruptcy of the largest distilleries. The Scottish banks helped producers who began to flood the local market with cheap whisky but of poor quality.
Quantity and quality
The major distillers decided to produce more quickly, and the stills provided up to 25 times more whisky than before! New stills, bulkier, then made it possible to multiply the production by 90. In Highlands, the farmers, who represented the greatest part of the production, produced whiskies of quality. Smuggling was massive, under the benevolent glance of the local authorities.
Distillation leaves clandestinity definitively
In the early 1800, a new famine resulted in prohibiting distillation to safeguard the production of bread. The embargo on the continental products, because of the Napoleonic wars, prohibited at the same time the recourse to continental cereals, but also to the Cognac, which was finally favorable to the industry of the whisky. Legal distillings increased in a spectacular way their production, passing from 12 to 39 in 1817 and to 57 in 1819 in Highlands, and from 24 to 68 in Lowlands.
In 1823, a new law, the Excise Act, decreased taxes, putting an end to illegal distillation. The use of malt was encouraged, and the quality of whiskies improved rapidly. During the Industrial Revolution, distilleries were the largest factories in Scotland, all activities combined.
The arrival of blending
The first blend was created in 1853 by the Glenlivet distillery, combining malt whiskies and grain. This was a real revolution : not very expensive manufacture, taste standardized and easily reproducible especially in extremely large quantities. This revolution sounded like a disaster for the single malt, particularly for Irish Distillers who refused the blending. The Golden Age of Scottish distilleries began late nineteenth compounded early twentieth by a law authorizing the name of whisky for blends. But overproduction of alcohol led to an unprecedented recession, and many distilleries stopped their activities, temporarily or completely.
Nowadays
Par la suite, l'industrie du whisky connut des hauts et des bas, avec la progression planétaire des blends, la concentration des grands groupes, mais également le renouveau, au début des années 1980, des singles malts symbolisés notamment par Glenfiddich,. Aujourd'hui, le marché du whisky se porte bien, les réouvertures de distilleries anciennes se multiplient, de même que la construction de nouvelles structures, aux capacités toujours accrues pour satisfaire la demande pressante des pays émergents qui consomment de plus en plus de whisky.
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