A FOLLOW UP TO FUN FACTS ABOUT WHISKY
For a comprehensive list of nearly 1500 Fun Facts, please click here.
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.
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 to 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.
Johnnie Walker Black label
is the world's best-selling deluxe 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. 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 is INDRINK.
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 size in Scotland.
Releases of Scotch whisky from bond for sale in the UK
in the first half totaled 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.
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%
You
Can Watch Whisky Production Processes Live: Bruichladdich, a
distillery on the island of Islay, has webcams that allow you to see each of
the whisky making processes as they happen. Go to www.bruichladdich.com/web_cam
and watch whisky being produced live (if they are working).
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 the
Cadenhead 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 unique selling point 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 aging 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 spelled
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. A very simple way to remember the spelling: if it comes from a
country without an ‘e’ in its spelling, then its spelt Whisky. (e.g., Scotland,
Japan, India, Canada, etc.).
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 honor 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.
