[MR] Scotch's history, distilled from the LA Times

[Jeanne]

 A new book traces the spirit's rise from medieval elixir to the most
popular whisky in the world.

By Charles Perry, Times Staff Writer


YOU can read about the history of Scotch whisky in lots of places, from
sketchy little sidebars that pad out tasting guides to serious, detailed
studies such as F. Paul Pacult's recent "A Double Scotch" (the narrowly
focused tale of one single malt and one blended Scotch). 

Charles MacLean's "Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History" (Cassell Illustrated,
$24.95) falls in the serious, detailed category, complete with eight dense
pages of footnotes, but on a large scale. It covers the vast world of
Scotch, including its poorly documented medieval origins, the single malt
revival and the recent trend of distilleries to open to the public, in the
manner of Napa wineries. Fortunately, it's not only knowledgeable — drenched
in knowledge, almost — but very readable. 

It's primarily a history, but it finds room in its majestic narrative for a
good amount of information about the technical side of Scotch. Not enough
for you to make your own whisky, but certainly enough to understand the
sorts of thing that Scotch geeks are likely to go on about, such as floor
maltings (rooms where barley is raked over floors heated by peat fires to
stop its sprouting). 

More mechanized ways of malting barley have been invented in the last 200
years and many distilleries now buy their malt from malting companies, but
Scotch geeks often romanticize producers that claim to adhere to the 18th
century way. MacLean is more down to earth. 

"By 1980," he characteristically points out, "only a handful of distilleries
were malting their own barley, and most of these producing only about 20% of
their requirement." Still, he names the floor-malting holdouts, so you can
hold your own in conversation with Scotch geeks. 

The later chapters tell how Scottish merchants invented blended Scotch in
the 1870s, taming their rugged national drink so that it could become the
most popular whisky in the world. This part gets to be something of a
business story, full of the ins and outs of mergers and acquisitions and the
ups and downs of Scotch on the world market. Of course, it's a story with
its own drama, as suggested by two of MacLean's chapter titles: "A Scotsman
on the Make" and "Great Pushfulness and Ability." 

*

A whisky-sodden world

BUT it's in the first five chapters that MacLean's 20 years of writing on
the subject show most forcefully. 

He navigates the thorny quarrels of the 17th and 18th century whisky world,
mostly brought on by an ever-changing parade of restrictive laws. He evokes
the whisky-sodden world of the 18th century Scottish Enlightenment; you
wonder that Edinburgh, a city where everybody downed half a cup of whisky
promptly at noon (a bell was rung), produced so many important writers and
inventors. 

The 18th century attitude, MacLean writes, "is summed up by a story about a
group of gentlemen who had been drinking together in a club in Glasgow. They
had been at it for several hours when it was noticed that one of the number
had been keeping quiet for some time. 'Whit gars Garskadden luk sae gash?'
(What makes the laird of Garskadden look so ghastly?), asked the laird of
Kilmardinny. To which Garskadden's neighbour replied, 'Garskadden's been wi'
his Maker these twa hours; I saw him step awa', but I dinna like to disturb
gude company.' " 

Above all, MacLean makes it clear, quoting from manuscripts located in nooks
and crannies throughout Scotland, that Scotch whisky was not always what we
know as Scotch whisky. (He also points out that the Scots didn't start
insisting on the spelling "whisky" until about 100 years ago, as a move to
distinguish Scotch from other grain spirits. Until that time, they'd used
the familiar Irish and American spelling, whiskey.) 

*

Medicinal purposes

FROM the Middle Ages through the 17th century, the Scots, like everybody
else in Europe, thought of distilled liquor as a medicine. Of course,
frivolous people had already started drinking it for convivial purposes as
well, and the idea of tying one on to show your manhood had made its
appearance in Scotland. Traces of the medical association remain to this day
— the Scots call a drink of whisky a "dram," originally a measure of
medicine (and originally amounting to a quarter of a tablespoon, though a
"dram" of whisky has meant as much as half a cup). 

Because whisky was long considered a medicine, the Scots often added spices
and other supposed medicinal ingredients to it, along the line of tonic
liqueurs like Chartreuse. MacLean mentions an 18th century recipe that added
mace, cloves, cinnamon, nuts, coriander, cubeb peppers, raisins, dates,
licorice, saffron and sugar to what was probably perfectly good Scotch to
start with. 

On top of that, nobody aged Scotch until around 1820 (the same period, by
the way, that Americans started aging bourbon and rye). British law did not
require Scotch to be aged at all until 1915 (on the dubious theory that
un-aged whisky led to fighting among factory workers, thus reducing the
production of military supplies during World War I). So for most of its
history, Scotch has been either a medicinal tonic or raw white lightning.
This probably explains why it was often made into grog or toddy as late as
the 1870s — to mask its raw taste with other ingredients. 

Scotch as we know it turns out to be a younger beverage than many of us may
have assumed, but that makes the emergence of the noble spirit we know today
all the more remarkable. For telling this story in full detail, replete with
entertaining anecdotes, "Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History" deserves to be on
the shelf of anybody with more than a passing interest in Scotch. 

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