SOME FUN FACTS ABOUT SCOTCH WHISKY

INTERESTING INFORMATION ABOUT SCOTCH

An opened bottle of Scotch whisky will remain good for at least six months, provided exposure to oxygen is limited. 

Some 20 million casks, the equivalent of over 500 million cases, are maturing in warehouses in Scotland. This represents the equivalent of approximately 10 billion bottles of Scotch after bottling. 

Scotch is sold in more than 200 markets globally. 

The total amount of Scotch released for sale to the UK market was 90 million bottles of 700 ml each. 

The industry generated about five billion dollars in tax revenue for the UK government. 

Scotch whisky accounts for 85 per cent of Scotland’s, and a quarter of the UK’s, food and drink exports. 

The export of Scotch whisky has increased by 87 per cent in the past decade.

A closed bottle of Scotch can, under optimal conditions, be kept for over 100 years and will still be good to drink. 

The most expensive bottle of Scotch whisky available in 2013 is Isabella’s Islay at 6.2 million dollars. The decanter comes decorated with 8,500 diamonds and 300 rubies. For the cost-conscious, there is Isabella Special Edition, a bargain at only 740,000 dollars. 

The oldest Scotch whisky on the market was purported to be the Aisla T’Orten, 105 years old, distilled in 1906 and available for 1.43 million dollars from the Master of Malt website. Sadly this turned out to be an April Fools’ Day inspired, promotional stunt. 

The Gordon & MacPhail “Generations” series has released two 70-year-old Scotch Whiskies since its debut in 2010. The first offering, a 70 YO Mortlach distilled in 1938 and bottled in 2008 was released at a special ceremony at Edinburgh Castle on May 11, 2010. The entire offering, 54 x 700 ml bottles and 162 x 200 ml bottles sold out within two weeks. The 700 ml bottle was priced at approximately 16,000 dollars.

 

The oldest Scotch whisky commercially available is a Gordon & MacPhail bottling of 70 YO Glenlivet, priced at approximately 20,000 dollars. Part of the “Generations” series, the whisky was distilled in 1940 and bottled in 2010. The first re-release occurred on March 8, 2011, at Edinburgh Castle. A second release was made on September 20, 2012, at the Vancouver International Airport. Drawn entirely from a single cask, number 339, decanters were released in both 200ml and 700ml sizes. 

The highest price paid at an auction for a Scotch whisky is 460,000 dollars for a 64 YO, 42.5% ABV, Macallan malt whisky in a Perdue crystal decanter made by Lalique. The proceeds were earmarked for a charitable cause.

LVMH’s Glenmorangie distillery employs just sixteen craftsmen—the “Sixteen Men of Tain”—who have become synonymous with the Glenmorangie brand all over the world. 

It is, however, Edradour that has the smallest number of employees—with three people to run the entire operation. 

The Australian Wine Research Institute has introduced a measure called a standard drink. In Australia, a standard drink contains 10 g (12.67 ml) of alcohol, the amount that an average adult male can metabolize in one hour. This is roughly equivalent to one fluid ounce of 80-proof liquor. The UK has the same standard. 

Japanese-owned Tomatin used to be the largest capacity distillery in Scotland. At its peak it had 23 stills and a capacity of over six million gallons of spirit a year. 

The Pinch (Dimple) is the fourth largest-selling, blended deluxe Scotch whisky in the world.

Scotch in a can. Scotch whisky will soon be sold in a re-sealable can in the United States, putting a liquor prized for its pedigree, into a humble container known for its affordability and portability. Each can of Scottish spirits will contain 12 ounces—about six shots—of 80° proof Scotch whisky. 

Experts advise you to drink single malt whisky with a small amount of water. The water supposedly “releases the serpent” from the whisky. 

If there is a serpent, there is also an “angel.” As it ages, 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent of the whisky maturing in a barrel is lost to evaporation every year. Distillers refer to this as the “angel’s share.”

The Seraph didn’t like being left out. He is part of what was wrongly called The Devil's Cut, the amount of sherry/port/wines left behind in pores in barrels used for maturation. It is as high as 12%, so a 2-yr old 500 ltr sherry cask will contain ~60 ltrs of sherry to marry with the new make/whisky poured into it. That incongruity was soon rectified.

The Devil’s Cut is a serious matter for distillers ageing barrels indefinitely. The barrel soaks up a minuscule percentage of the new make maturing inside, which, over say, 30 years, would amount to 15% of about 150 litres remaining in the standard barrel. That’s 22-23 litres of a £ 1,000 per bottle brand, about 30-60 bottles gone at cask strength/46% ABV.

The most expensive European Union country in which to buy Scotch is Sweden. In the UK, it is not as cheap as expected. Denmark and Switzerland are also expensive. 

In other developed non-EU countries, New Zealand is the most expensive country.

Although their proof differs, standard drinks of beer, wine, and spirits (liquor) contain an equivalent amount of alcohol—0.6 ounces each. They’re all the same to a breathalyzer. 

Bowmore (1779) is the oldest continually operating distillery in Scotland. Glen Garioch (1784), Strathisla (1786) and Balblair (1790) are the next oldest.

Glenturret dates back to 1775, but it was inactive from 1921 to 1959. Littlemill dates back to 1772, but is now demolished. 

A 10-year-old Laphroaig costs around US$50. If you purchase a bottle of any of its single malts and register the bottle barcode on the Laphroaig website, you will become the proud owner of 01 sqft of land in Laphroaig’s bogs. Do carry your gum boots and raincoat if you wish to go there to stake claim with your own flag.

Laphroaig and White Horse Scotch whiskies were cleared for import by the USA during its Prohibition days (1920-33) as bottles of Medicinal Value.
 
William Lawson’s blended Scotch, a relatively unknown brand, is a bestseller in Russia.It has just launched a 13 YO version, wherein the contents of the 12 YO bottle are matured for one additional year in an oak barrel that has been charred from the inside, giving it a best-selling smoky flavour. 

 

18,000 litres of Scotch whisky, worth over 800,000 dollars, were accidentally flushed down the drain at the Dumbarton bottling plant of Chivas Brothers in March 2013. 

In the UK, the five most popular blended Scotch whiskies are The Famous Grouse, William Grant’s, Bell’s, Teacher’s, and J&B Rare. 

Johnnie Walker, the world’s largest-selling blended Scotch whisky, is not among the top five selling brands in its home market. 

UK whisky is cheaper in Europe. The price of a bottle of whisky, including the excise duty, has been subject to Value Added Tax since 1973. The EU-mandated size of the Scotch bottle is 700 ml, minimum 40% ABV. Scotch actually costs less in Europe than in the UK, with the cheapest price in Spain. A 700 ml bottle of the average blended Scotch whisky might sell for around eighteen dollars in the UK. Tax would take around 12 dollars or 66 per cent of the retail price. In Spain, the same bottle would cost around eight dollars. Prices in France, Italy, and Germany would fall between eight dollars and twelve dollars. Duty-free prices in those countries would be even cheaper. 

You can watch whisky production live. Bruichladdich, a distillery on the island of Islay, has webcams that allow you to follow the whisky-making process as it happens. Go to www.bruichladdich.com/web_ cam and watch whisky being produced live (if they are working). 

Glenfiddich is the largest-selling single malt in the world, followed by Glenlivet and then The Macallan. Glenmorangie is catching up rapidly.

Johnnie Walker Red Label is the world’s largest-selling Scotch whisky. 

Johnnie Walker Black label is no longer the world’s best-selling deluxe whisky. That honour goes to Grand Old Parr, so named in 1909 after the oldest known man living in Scotland. This matter is under dispute.

The Famous Grouse is the most popular Scotch whisky in Scotland. 

Glenmorangie is the largest-selling single malt whisky in Scotland. 

Aberfeldy is the “heart” of Dewar’s White Label, the number one blended Scotch whisky in the US. 

Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop on Canongate, when owned by the Cadenhead family, was Scotland’s oldest independent bottler. It was taken over by J & A Mitchell & Co. Ltd., in 1972. The name remains unchanged, even though Mitchell & Co. bottle and sell Springbank, Longrow, and Hazelburn single malt whiskies, along with Campbeltown Loch and Mitchell’s 12 YO. Its unique selling point is that customers can have a custom bottle poured straight from a cask and labelled with their name. When sealed it has a label with the “born on date.” Since whisky stops ageing as soon as it leaves the wooden barrel each bottle is a unique expression, www.wmcadenhead.com or in London www.whiskytastingroom.com.

The source of the name Auchentoshan is Gaelic —it means “corner of the field.” 

Irish settlers probably started the distillery and they may also be responsible for Auchentoshan’s use of triple distillation. 

Antique records from the year 1800 mention an illegal Duntocher distillery, which may have been a predecessor to the legal Auchentoshan distillery. A license for distillation was obtained in 1823. 

The matter of the “e” in whisky. Scotch whisky is always spelled without an “e.” Most other nations, such as the United States and Ireland, call their similar spirits whiskey. Be sure you never add the “e” when writing to a Scotsman. It used to be that there was a very simple way to remember the spelling: if the spirit comes from a country without an “e” in the spelling of its name, (e.g., Scotland, Japan, India, Canada, etc.), then its spelt whisky, otherwise it is spelt whiskey with an “e.” With the proliferation of whisky production around the world, however, this rule does not apply any more. 88 of the 92 countries dealing with/ making this spirit spell it whisky.

Bruichladdich’s Octomore 8.3 of 2018-19 is the heaviest peated whisky in the world at 309 ppm phenol.

The Macallan claims that it has achieved success and fame through its “six pillars”: spiritual home, curiously small stills, finest cut, exceptional oak casks, natural color, and The Macallan  itself. It has released five expressions in honor of its pillars so far, starting in 2005 —the 50, 55, 57, 60, and 62 YO malts in a custom Lalique crystal decanter. The 62 YO was released on December 17, 2013, at a price of 26,000 US dollars. 

James Bond has a well-earned reputation as a drinker, with the vodka martini, “shaken not stirred” as his signature drink. In the collected novels of James Bond by Ian Fleming, Bond is depicted with a drink a total of 317 times. In 101 of those times, his drink is straight whisky. He drinks a total of 35 glasses of saki in You Only Live Twice, and 30 glasses of champagne in all of the other novels combined. He only calls for a vodka martini on 19 occasions. In his most recent movie, Sky Fall, Bond drank Macallan. He was known to have drunk Talisker in the movie Diamonds are Forever. In the novels he usually drank Haig and Haig’s Dimple or Black and White. 

Dean Martin’s favourite Scotch was J&B

Winston Churchill was partial to Johnny Walker Red; not surprisingly, he was a good friend of Sir Alexander Walker II. He liked Black Label too!

Franklin Roosevelt was also a Scotch drinker. Would you expect anything less from the man who oversaw the repeal of prohibition? His son, James Roosevelt, teamed up with Joseph Kennedy to obtain the US distribution rights for Dewar’s Scotch & Cutty Sark shortly before the repeal of Prohibition — a lucky break no doubt.

Richard Burton and Humphrey Bogart were both Scotch drinkers. So was Lee Marvin.

Sean Connery is a devotee of Macallan, although that didn’t stop him from doing commercials for Jim Beam.

A bottle of Glenfiddich always seems to turn up in movies starring George Clooney.

Cary Grant was obsessed with Black and White, at least in the movie Father Goose.

For Harrison Ford it's Bruichladdich. For Peter Falk, it was Chivas Regal. He even starred in commercials for them.

Michael Buble’s contracts require that a bottle of Macallan or Oban be provided at each of his concerts.

Truman Capote also ordered J&B. For fellow author Stephen King and Hunter S. Thompson it is/was Chivas Regal. George Bernard Shaw described whisky as “liquid sunshine.”

In Uruguay, people don’t say ‘cheese’ to force a smile for the camera – they say ‘whisky’.

World War II reshaped the industry. Could whisky be made when rationing? The government argued that as the country was bankrupt and needed to earn more currency overseas, cereals would only be released if companies agreed to export more. Whisky rationing only came to an end in 1959.

Since 1956, whisky has been the W word of choice for the NATO phonetic alphabet. It replaced William.

There are only 12 working distilleries in Ireland, compared to ~117 in Scotland.

John ‘Johnnie’ Walker was a grocer in Kilmarnock in the mid-1800s who specialised in blending tea, and switched over to blending whisky.

Saturday, May 18, 2019, was World Whisky Day. It takes place on the third Saturday of May each year (launched in 2012).

Throughout the years, whisky has been thought to have magic powers and hugely restorative qualities, including being splashed on to men’s heads in an attempt to cure baldness, feet being soaked in it to prevent blisters, given in milk to cats to help them catch more mice and even poured around the base of trees to give them a boost.

1994 saw the 500th anniversary of Scotch Whisky production in Scotland.

An 1896 Scotch from Ernest Shackleton’s Antartic expedition found in 2006 is being preserved in a museum in Christchurch, NZ. It didn’t freeze, even at -30 temperatures, and 11 full bottles were found in crates. It will never be poured for drinking but samples have been taken and used to recreate the taste.

The ‘cup of kindness’ mentioned in Auld Lang Syne, written by Robert Burns, refers to whisky.

There are over 300,000 varieties of barley but only a few are suitable for malt whisky production.

Depending on the strain of barley that is used, one metric ton of barley can be converted into ~ 400 litres of pure alcohol (at + 95.6%).

Many Scottish distilleries now give the grain waste produced by distilling to farmers as a nutrient-rich food supplement for livestock.

The first Scottish distillery to install a Coffey Still was the Grange Distillery, Alloa.

In Victorian times at some Scottish distilleries, a curious – and somewhat benevolent – rule allowed workers to stop for a dram each time a bell rang. It rang 4 times a day!

Distillery workers have been known to take used barley home to be packed into a drawer and stored overnight to set, then cut and taken the next day for snack/lunch. A predecessor of the flapjack!

Coopers use more than 20 different tools to build a whisky barrel.

The liquid maturing inside a barrel cannot be called whisky till that barrel is opened for bottling. 

It cannot be called Scotch if the barrel is opened before 3 years have elapsed from the date of casking, as printed on the barrel.

No whisky may be made in Scotland other than Scotch.

Master Blenders may extract a 1.0 L syringe of maturing new make for close examination. Barrels that fail-about 2.0 to 2.5%-are withdrawn after paying holding and other taxes and most often sold as Scottish Whisky to distillers from other countries like India.   

‘Flogging a bung’ means using a mallet to pry open the bung of the cask – bashing the barrel on either side of the bung hole to loosen it up and allow sampling.

Recently, whisky barrels have found an unusual use once they are no longer required for maturing whisky – there is a company which now transforms them into flooring for your home or workplace, as well as for bars and restaurants.

There are over 25 descriptive terms for the colour of whisky. 

Whisky does not mature once it has been bottled.

Most new make spirit is diluted to around 62.5% ABV before being placed in casks to mature.

Blending was pioneered by Andrew Usher in Edinburgh in 1856.

Whisky gains as much as 60% of its flavour from the type of cask used in the ageing process. 

As of November 23, 2012, Single Malt Scotch Whisky must be bottled in Scotland.

On Sunday, Aug 12, 2012, the Guinness Book of World Records recorded the largest bottle of whisky in the world at 228 litres. The earliest known ‘whisky bottles’, in 1841, were reused wine bottles, often used by local grocers.

There are currently 117 operational distilleries across Scotland, 7 grain and 110 malt.

There are 9 distilleries (soon to be 10) on the island of Islay.

In 1941, German U-boats sank the SS Eriskay Politician with 28,000 bottles of whisky on board.

Scotch Whisky can not only be enjoyed as a drink or paired with food, but also in recipes including cakes, preserves and sauces – often in place of more traditional brandy or wine.

The first distillery came into ‘official’ existence in 1824 following the Excise Act of 1823.

Scotch Whisky was so popular that people began to make their own to avoid the tax man.

John F Kennedy’s father, Joseph Kennedy was an agent for the first legal Scotch Whisky brand to be delivered into the US after Prohibition. The whisky was landed in New York and Chicago the moment the law was repealed on Dec 5, 1933.

The Ardbeg Distillery on Islay sent compounds of unmatured malt – new make spirit – to the International Space Station (ISS) in an unmanned cargo spacecraft on 30 October 2011. It also sent up particles of charred oak and, once the spacecraft docked at the ISS, the two sets of molecules were mixed. 

Glenmorangie has the tallest stills in Scotland. Their long copper necks stand at 5.14 metres, the same height as a fully grown adult giraffe! They are not small and squat like traditional stills as the company’s founder was a ‘canny’ Scot who bought second-hand gin stills rather than purchase new, more expensive stills. The ones used today are exact replicas of this original design.

The oldest recorded visitor to a Scottish distillery was 103.

KT Tunstall was given a handmade guitar built from oak cask staves by her favourite distillery (Talisker).

Degrees of peating are measured in ‘parts per million phenols’, or ppm. Well-known distilleries generally range from 1-55 but, experimentally, a ppm of 320 has been achieved on Islay. 

The Quaich, a uniquely Scottish invention designed specifically for whisky, is used to offer a guest a cup of welcome and also as a farewell drink.

Scotch Whiskies contain more than double the number of flavour components (congeners) of its nearest competitors, cognac and rum – with more than 100 complex flavours versus 5 to 10 in vodka.

While a dram is a standard pub measure, ‘A Wee Dram’ has an altogether different definition. The term can only be applied to a measure poured by a host, and its size is dependent not on HM weights and measures, but on the generosity of the host.

Standard measures of Scotch Whisky (25ml) contain 55 calories and no fat.

Diageo invested £10 million in its state-of-the-art Cambus Cooperage to make it a completely up-to-date operation combining innovation with traditional skills.

There are more than 500 species of oak growing throughout the world but only a few are suitable for coopering.

The art of making barrels is one of the world’s oldest crafts.

The Scotch Whisky production process has changed little in the last two hundred years.

The Wine and Spirit Brand Association was formed in 1912, becoming the Whisky Association in 1917 and the Scotch Whisky Association in 1942.

The Coffey or Patent Still has been in use since 1831.

Until 1821, glass bottles for Scotch Whisky were free-blown.

In 1887 Josiah Arnell and Howard Ashley patented the first bottle-blowing machine.

Scotch Whisky only began to be sold in bottles after 1860 when blending became widespread. 

Glenturret’s record-breaking distillery cat Towser, caught 30,000 mice in his 24-year lifetime (1963-1987).

Scotch Whisky water sources on Islay flows through rocks thought to be 800 million years old. 

The description ‘Single Malt Scotch Whisky’ must appear exactly in that form.

In 1827, Cameronbridge became the first distillery to produce grain whisky.

The 1915 Immature Spirits Act brought in the three-year rule for ageing whisky.

There are more than 1.5 million visits to Scotch Whisky distilleries annually. This means they rank among many well-known UK attractions, including Edinburgh Castle, the Scottish National Gallery, Tate Britain, Stonehenge and London Zoo.

Elgin architect Charles Doig invented the iconic ‘pagoda’ roof which is still used in many Scotch Whisky distilleries.

Agents who bought whisky from smugglers were called ‘Blethermen’.

Cooper’s apprentices must work accompanied for 4 years before being allowed to tackle their own barrel.

There were 400 illicit stills in Edinburgh alone in 1777.

Campbeltown could at one point boast more than 30 distilleries and proclaimed itself ‘the whisky capital of the world’; it was nicknamed ‘Spiritville’ or ‘Whiskyopolis’. 

Robert Burns was once employed in the Scotch Whisky industry as an exciseman or ‘gauger’.

Islay peat is made up of moss, heather and seaweed while mainland peat contains wood, bark and needles from the Caledonian pine forests, giving two very distinct flavours.

Visitors to Scotch Whisky distilleries spend £ 50 million per year, an average of £32.50 per head.

The largest proportion of visitors came from Scotland and other parts of the UK, Germany, the USA and France. The source of visitors reflects some of the largest markets for Scotch.

A crystal decanter of Macallan Imperiale ‘M’ whisky scooped the prestigious title of the world’s most expensive whisky when it sold at auction in Hong Kong for $628,205 in 2015. The luxury decanter contains 6 litres of whisky and stands 28 inches tall.

Scotch whisky is now being sold in a can in the United States, putting liquor prized for its pedigree into a humble container known for its affordability and portability. Johnnie Walker has released Red Label Blended Scotch Whisky with Soda, which will be available in both 345ml bottle and 375ml can formats. Cola mixes are at or below 5% ABV.

Approximately 15% of blended Scotch whisky is bottled overseas.

Glenfiddich buys German Oak casks and sends them to Jerez, Spain. A sherry-maker is paid rent to make a 'fino' sherry in this cask and bottle it in 2 yrs. The cask is brought back to Scotland and filled with a brand new make of raw malted whisky and matured for 10-15 years. The end result is an expensive Scotch whisky. Macallan does the same, except that at 10-12 years, the whisky is shifted for another 2-5 years into once-used American bourbon casks that last held Oloroso sherry.  The end result is a bloody expensive Scotch whisky, most popular in China for corporate gifts.

Glenmorangie is more exclusive. LMVH has its own Oak plantation in the US, makes its own bourbon barrels and pays Bourbon manufacturers to use these casks for one-four years. Thereafter, the casks are split open into staves and exported to Scotland to mature Glenmorangie raw make.

Some 20 million casks, over 500 million cases, are maturing in warehouses in Scotland. This represents the equivalent of approximately 10 billion bottles of Scotch after bottling.

Scotch is sold in more than 200 markets globally.    

The total amount of Scotch released for sale to the UK market was 90m bottles of 70 cl. each.

Scotch sells three times its nearest foreign whisky rival.

The industry generated about £3 billion in tax revenue for the UK government.

Scotch whisky accounts for a quarter of UK food and drink exports.

Export of Scotch whisky has increased by 87% in the past decade.

A closed bottle of Scotch can be kept for 100 years+ and will still be good to drink.

After opening, a half-full bottle of Scotch whisky will remain good for six to eight months.

The most expensive bottle of Scotch whisky today is Isabella’s Islay ($6.2 Million).

The oldest Scotch whisky on the market is the Aisla T’Orten 107 Years old, distilled in 1906 and available for $ 1.43 million (£870,000). Probably an April Fool's Day prank.

The highest price paid at an auction for a Scotch Whisky is £288,000 (for a 64-year-old 42.5 % Macallan malt whisky).

Glenfiddich is the largest-selling single malt in the world, followed by the Glenlivet.

Johnnie Walker Red Label is the world's largest-selling Scotch whisky. 

The Famous Grouse is the most popular Scotch whisky in the UK.

Glenmorangie is the largest-selling malt whisky in Scotland.

Aberfeldy is the most popular single malt Scotch whisky in the US.

Experts advise you to drink Single Malt whisky neat or with a tiny bit of water. The water supposedly ‘Releases the Serpent’ from the whisky.

If there is a serpent, there is also an Angel. As it ages, 2.0-2.5 % of the whisky maturing in a barrel is lost to evaporation every year. Distillers refer to this as the ‘angel’s share’.

But the Devil has the last word. Besides the loss due to ageing as stated earlier, the term also includes the fact that the larger the barrel used to mature whisky,

the more the spirit that is absorbed by the wood and lost, called by distillers the ‘Devil’s Cut’. The professional term for it remains INDRINK.

 
Maturation of the new make has to be done in a wooden oak cask not exceeding 700 L capacity.

The most expensive first-world country in which to buy Scotch is New Zealand. In the EU, Austria and Switzerland are the most expensive. 

Although their proof differs, standard drinks of beer, wine and spirits (liquor) contain an equivalent amount of alcohol – 0.6 ounces each. They’re all the same to a breathalyzer.

Glenturret is the oldest distillery in Scotland (1775), followed by Bowmore (1779). 

Glenturret, Oban and Glenlivet are the three oldest malt whiskies currently sold.
William Lawson’s blended Scotch, a relatively unknown brand, is a bestseller in Russia.

18,000 litres of Scotch whisky worth over $800,000 (£ 500,000) were accidentally flushed down the drain at the Dumbarton bottling plant of Chivas Brothers in March 2013. 

There are a total of 117 distilleries in Scotland, 110 malt and 7 grain or multipurpose, according to the research briefings and fact sheets presented to the UK Parliament.

In the UK, the six most popular Scotch blended Whiskies are The Famous Grouse, Bell’s, William Grant’s, Teacher’s, J&B and High Commissioner.

LVMH’s Glenmorangie distillery is one of the smallest in the Highlands and employs just sixteen craftsmen – ‘The Sixteen Men of Tain’ - who have become synonymous with the Glenmorangie brand all over the world.

Edradour was the smallest distillery in Scotland - Three people run the entire operation.

Strathearn Distillery claims to hold that distinction. It is temporarily closed today.

Loch Ewe is the smallest distillery in Scotland; the owner is a one-man show.

Releases of Scotch whisky from bond for sale in the UK in the first half totalled 37.3 million bottles, down about 5.5% on the corresponding figure of 39.5 million in the opening six months of 2012. The SWA blamed the domestic excise duty regime, and called for UK Government help in this regard.

The fastest-growing Scotch whisky in the world over the last five years was Black Dog. Not any more after a lawsuit was filed against Diageo and USL for falsification and fabrication of facts. Read about The Black Dog at https://noelonwhisky.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-intriguing-history-of-black-dog_10.html  / You may have noticed the totally changed gold-coloured and black cover describing its history.

The Australian Wine Research Institute has introduced a measure called a standard drink. In Australia, a standard drink contains 10 g (12.67 ml) of alcohol, the amount that an average adult male can metabolize in one hour.

Japanese-owned Tomatin is the largest capacity distillery in Scotland.

Haig’s Pinch (Dimple) is the fourth largest blended Deluxe Scotch whisky in the world.

Persian overlords were required to rule twice on a case; once when stone-cold sober and again when intoxicated, in the belief of ‘in vino veritas’. 

UK Whisky Cheaper in Europe: The price of a bottle of whisky, including the Excise Duty, has been subject to Value Added Tax since 1973. The EU-mandated size of the Scotch bottle is 70 cl or 700 ml, minimum 40 per cent ABV. In a single European market, Scotch actually costs less in Europe than in the UK. A 70cl of the average blended Scotch whisky might sell for £10.70 in the UK. Tax would take £7.07 or 66% of the retail price. In 10 out of 15 European countries, lower taxes mean that the same bottle is sold for less. Look at the list below:
Spain about £4.50 about 40%
Italy about £4.85 about 40%
Greece about £ 5.50 about 44%
Germany about £6.40 about 49%
France about £6.60 about 55%
Andorra about £ 3.75, about 35%

Age Mentioned on a Blended Whisky Label: A blended whisky contains anywhere from 15 to 50 different malt whiskies. The skill of the blender is to create character and consistency in the product – and to choose only the whiskies that complement each other. The age of the blended Whisky mentioned on the bottle refers to the youngest whisky in the blend. If it says 10 years it means that the youngest Whisky has been matured for a minimum period of 10 years in oak casks. The same holds good for Single Malt Whiskies as well. 

Dewar’s Adds Honey to Scotch: Bacardi, in an attempt to woo the younger generation, unveiled a brand called Dewar’s Highlander Honey, which the company describes as a Scotch whisky “infused with Scottish heather honey filtered through oak cask wood.” The Scotch Whisky Association argues that this Dewar’s product is not Scotch whisky and that under EU law, it has to be sold under the sales description ‘Spirit Drink’. The label may refer to Scotch whisky as one of its constituents.

The first malt whisky ever to be exported to Australia was the Dalmore, in 1870. 

The Dalmore is the only distillery permitted to source Matusalem sherry wood casks for finishing its single malt at Gonzalez Byass.

Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop on Canongate, when owned by that family, was Scotland’s oldest independent bottler till taken over by J & A Mitchell & Co. Ltd. in 1972. The name remains unchanged, even though Mitchell & Co bottle and sell Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn Single Malt whiskies, along with Campbeltown Loch and Mitchell's 12-year-old. Its USP is that customers can have a bottle poured straight from a cask and labelled with a person’s name. When sealed it has a label with the ‘born on date’, as whisky stops ageing as soon as it leaves the wooden barrel so each bottle is a unique blend.

The source of the name Auchentoshan is Gaelic. It means 'corner of the field'. 

Auchentoshan was probably started by Irish settlers, led by the MacBeathas.

Some sources claim that these Irish whisky distillers brought the Irish custom of triple distillation with them. Auchentoshan uses triple distillation.

Antique records from the year 1800 mention an (illegal) Duntocher distillery, which may have been a predecessor to the legal Auchentoshan distillery. A license for distillation was obtained in 1823.

The ‘e’ in whiskey: Scotch whisky is always spelt without an ‘e’? Most other nations such as United States and Ireland call their similar spirits Whiskey. Be sure you never add the ‘e’ when writing to a Scotsman. The tip on a very simple way to remember the spelling: if it comes from a country without an ‘e’ in its spelling, then it's spelt Whisky. (e.g., Scotland, Japan, India, Canada, etc.) was proved to be fallacious.

Bruichladdich’s The Octomore 08.3 is “the most heavily peated Octomore to date”, containing barley peated to 309 ppm. Octomore 2009 Edition 06.3, peating level is 258 ppm. 

The Macallan claims that it has achieved success and fame through its ‘Six Pillars’, viz., Spiritual Home, Curiously Small Stills, Finest Cut, Exceptional Oak Casks, Natural Color and The Macallan itself.  It has released five expressions in honour of its pillars so far, starting in 2005; the 50, 55, 57, 60 and 62-year-old single malts in bespoke Lalique crystal. The 62nd was released on December 17, 2013, at a price of US$ 26,000.

A comprehensive list of 2250 fun facts is available at this site https://noelonwhisky.blogspot.com/2019/09/120-more-fun-facts-about-whisky.html OR AT THIS LINK.

A further set of 2,500 fun facts, following on from the first, is available at THIS LINK.