[MR] BBC: 1505 Aberdeen Whisky Still

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, especially Fellow Scots:

Lady Sarah Sinclair stumbled upon this 2019 BBC story, and though a bit
dated, it was too important not to share. After all, history never gets old
(It already is!).

Burgh of Aberdeen records for 1505 mention a whisky still in an inquest of
Sir Andrew Gray's estate. This is so far the earliest mention of a still in
Scotland. Whisky was at that time called "*aqua vitae*", usually translated
as "water of life":
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-49032195 .

The earliest known reference to whisky in Scotland is from James IV's 1494
(coincidently on June 1) exchequer entry which states, "To Brother John
Cor, by order of the King, to make *aqua vitae* VIII bolls of malt." John
Cor was a Tironsenian monk of Lindores Abbey, who may also have served as
royal apothecary. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cor .

A boll is roughly four bushels of grain. According to a reference I found
online, a bushel should give about two gallons of 80 proof liquor. So
Brother John's 32 bushels should have yielded about 60 gallons, allowing
for some loss in production. That wouldn't have lasted long in the Scottish
court, maybe enough for a weekend bender or two.

Although whisky probably was around in Scotland much earlier, the Irish so
far have the bragging rights. The earliest mention of whisky in Ireland
comes from the seventeenth-century *Annals of Clonmacnoise*, which
attributes the death of a chieftain in 1405 to "taking a surfeit of *aqua
vitae*" at Christmas". Of course, that was Irish whisky, not scotch.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Lady Sarah Sinclair, Lady of Mallard Lodge  🏰