Scotland's Whisky

Ask people what they associate most with Scotland and you'll probably get a variety of answers - tartan, golf and Robert Burns would certainly all be mentioned. But the most common answer is likely to be whisky.
Acknowledged as Scotland's national drink, whisky - in the Gaelic, uisge beatha (pronounced oosh-ga beh-huh), meaning water of life - has been produced here for longer than anyone can remember. Something that began centuries ago as a way of using up rain-soaked barley after a wet harvest, the whisky industry has now grown into one of the country's biggest earners, bringing in hundreds of millions of pounds every year.

The History of Whisky

8th Century BC         First Evidence of distilling in the Far East
4th Century BC         Greeks know of distilling
6th Century AD         First mention of distilling in Britain

1494                         First record of distilling in Scotland
                                 James IV on throne in Scotland
                                 Henry VII on throne in England
1513                         Battle of Flodden
1539-1550               Dissolution of Monasteries, spread of distilling as a
                                     trade
1558                         Queen Elizabeth I on throne in England
1560                         Mary Queen of Scots returns to Scotland from France
1567                         Mary Queen of Scots abdicates and flees to England
                                   and imprisonment
1579                         Temporary ban on distilling, except by noblemen,
                                   because of a bad harvest
1587                         Mary Queen of Scots executed
1588                         Spanish Armada
1603                         Union of Crowns-James VI of Scotland became
                                  James I of Britain
1636                          Charles I granted charter to the "Worshipful
                                  Company of Distillers"
1644                          First excise duty imposed -2/8 per Scots pint
1649 -1659              Cromwell's Commonwealth
1660                         Charles II restored to throne - excise duty reduced
1666                         Great Fire of London
1685                         James II came to throne
1688                         James deposed in Revolution
1689                         William of Orange proclaimed King after Revolution
                                 Ferintosh Distillery burned by Jacobites
                                 Battle of Killiecrankie
1692                         Glencoe Massacre
1707                         Union of Scots and English Parliaments
1715                         1st Jacobite Uprising
1725                         Malt tax led to riots in Glasgow
1726                         General Wade started road building programme to
                                 open up the highlands so that troops could control
                                the region more easily
1736                        Porteous riots in Edinburgh
1745                        2nd Jacobite Uprising
1746                        Battle of Culloden
1747                        Repression in Highlands imposed by
                                Duke of Cumberland
1760                        Start of "Highland Clearances"
1773                        Boston Tea Party
1775                        Dr Johnson toured Highlands with James Boswell
1776                        American Declaration of Independence from Britain
1784                        Ending of Ferintosh's exemption from Excise Duty
1785-1803               Series of huge increases in Excise Duty led to
                                 bankruptcies among licensed distillers
                                and a big increase in the amount of smuggled whisky
                                which was often of superior quality
                                because of the short cuts taken by the licensed
                               distillers to try and keep costs down
1788                        Roberts Burns became an Exciseman.
1789                        French Revolution and the mutiny on the Bounty
1790                        Forth and Clyde Canal opened. All goods still had to
                                 be transported by horse drawn cart on poor roads.
                                There were no railways and the internal combustion
                                engine had not been invented.
1793 - 1815            War with France; shortage of brandy made people
                                turn to whisky
1798                        Nelson defeats the French navy at the Battle of the
                                Nile
1805                        Nelson again victorious at Trafalgar
1815                        Napoleon defeated by Wellington at Waterloo
1822                        George IV visited Edinburgh and is reputed to have
                                asks for Glenlivet whisky which could only have
                                been illicit; widespread acceptance of whisky
                                smuggling; Union Canal opened, linking Edinburgh to
                                the Forth and Clyde Canal
1822                        New Whisky Act encouraged the setting up of licensed
                                distilleries at reasonable cost but under close
                                supervision
1825                        Opening of Stockton to Darlington Railway