49 Fun Facts About Whiskey

The word 'whisky' comes from a Gaelic phrase, uisce beatha, that translates as what?

It is a translation of the Latin aqua vitae, the medieval name for any distilled spirit.

Which two countries commonly spell it 'whiskey' with an 'e'?

Some US brands, including Maker's Mark, George Dickel and Old Forester, use the e-less spelling anyway.

A 1494 Exchequer Roll, the first record of Scotch whisky, sent malt to which cleric 'to make aquavitae'?

The order was enough malt for roughly 500 bottles, by order of the king.

Ireland's earliest whiskey mention records a chieftain dying in 1405 from what?

Distillation itself was first recorded in Italy in the 13th century, using wine.

For how many years must Scotch whisky be matured in oak casks in Scotland?

Ireland, Japan and Canada use the same minimum; the US minimum is typically two.

What is the 'angel's share'?

Up to 45 litres can vanish from a cask in four years, feeding a black fungus that grows on warehouse walls.

What dark fungus feeds on evaporating spirit and blackens buildings near warehouses?

It turns up on trees, roofs and cars around distilleries from Cognac to Kentucky.

Whisky stills are usually made of which metal, because it removes sulphur compounds?

After distillation the clear spirit sits at 70 to 80 per cent alcohol before the cask does its work.

Does whisky continue to age once it is in the bottle?

A 12-year-old bought in 1980 is still a 12-year-old today.

In Scotch production, the malt is dried over burning what to give it a smoky flavour?

Islay malts are the peatiest; many Speyside whiskies use little or none.

By law, bourbon must be made from a mash of at least what percentage corn?

It must also go into new charred oak, and, perhaps surprisingly, has no minimum ageing period at all.

How long must ordinary bourbon be aged under US law?

'Straight' bourbon needs two years; products aged as little as three months have been sold as bourbon.

In 1964, the US Congress declared bourbon to be what?

Americans were drinking about 77 million gallons of it a year at the time.

Roughly what share of all bourbon is produced in Kentucky?

Bourbon can legally be made anywhere in the US, including Puerto Rico, but almost nobody bothers.

The name 'bourbon' ultimately derives from a royal dynasty of which country?

Whether it came via Bourbon County, Kentucky or Bourbon Street, New Orleans is still disputed.

Which Baptist minister is dubiously credited with inventing bourbon by ageing it in charred oak?

He is credited with a string of Kentucky firsts, most of them unprovable.

Bottled-in-bond bourbon must be bottled at what proof?

It must also come from one distiller in one season and spend at least four years in a bonded warehouse.

What extra step, known as the Lincoln County Process, sets Tennessee whiskey apart from bourbon?

Tennessee wrote it into state law in 2013, with an exemption for one distillery.

Which distillery is the only Tennessee whiskey maker actually in modern Lincoln County?

Jack Daniel's was in Lincoln County until the boundaries changed in 1871.

Jack Daniel's is made in Lynchburg, in a county where you cannot legally do what?

Moore County is dry; distilling is fine but retail sale is not, apart from one commemorative bottle.

From whom did Jack Daniel learn the distilling trade?

Green kept working at the distillery after emancipation and is now honoured with his own whiskey brand.

By legend, what did Jack Daniel injure kicking his safe, eventually leading to his death?

The infection story is disputed by his biographer, but it is too good for tour guides to drop.

Which singer was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniel's in 1998?

The square bottle he was buried with dates from 1897, meant to convey fairness and integrity.

How many distillation runs does Irish whiskey commonly go through?

It is not a legal requirement; Cooley double-distils.

Which Irish distillery claims the oldest surviving licence to distil in the world, dating from 1608?

By 1966 Ireland was down to just two working distilleries from 28 in the 1890s; by 2022 there were 42.

Single pot still whiskey, unique to Ireland, is made from what?

Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world before a century-long decline.

John Jameson, who founded his Dublin distillery in 1780, was originally what?

He came from Alloa; his great-grandson was radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi.

Which inventor was the great-grandson of the founder of Jameson?

Jameson sales passed 8 million cases in 2019, by far the biggest Irish whiskey.

Which Irish excise officer patented the continuous two-column still in 1830?

Irish distillers rejected the lighter spirit as inferior; the Scots used it to build the blended whisky industry.

The Whiskey Rebellion of 1791-94 was a protest against a tax championed by which US Treasury Secretary?

It was the first federal tax on a domestic product, and Washington rode at the head of 13,000 militiamen to crush the revolt.

What distinction does George Washington hold from the Whiskey Rebellion?

He also ran a large distillery at Mount Vernon; the tax was repealed under Jefferson in 1802.

Which pharmacy chain grew from 20 stores to 525 during Prohibition, helped by medicinal whiskey sales?

Within six months of Prohibition, 15,000 doctors and 57,000 pharmacists were licensed to prescribe or sell it.

In the United States, how is 'proof' calculated?

The word comes from a Royal Navy test: gunpowder soaked in spirit that still burned was 'proof'.

What was soaked in spirit in the old test that gave us the word 'proof'?

If it still burned, the spirit was rated above proof; Britain switched to ABV labelling in 1980.

The first commercially released Japanese whisky, Suntory Shirofuda, came out in which year?

Masataka Taketsuru had apprenticed at Longmorn and Hazelburn in Scotland before founding Nikka's Yoichi distillery in 1934.

Crown Royal was created in 1939 by Seagram as a tribute to what?

It is made only at Gimli, Manitoba, and comes in a purple bag with a gold drawstring.

American rye whiskey must be made from a mash of at least what percentage rye?

Pittsburgh was the centre of rye production around 1800; the style nearly vanished after Prohibition.

Which city was the centre of American rye whiskey production in the late 1700s and early 1800s?

Manhattans and Old Fashioneds were originally made with rye before bourbon muscled in.

The name of the world's best-selling single malt, Glenfiddich, means what in Gaelic?

William Grant founded it in Dufftown in 1886, and its 1963 US launch effectively created the single malt category.

A bottle of which whisky sold for a record £2.1 million in November 2023?

Another bottle of the same 1926 vintage had set the previous record of £1.5 million at Sotheby's in 2019.

What were Scotch whisky exports worth in 2022?

That is a quarter of all UK food and drink export revenue.

Which Irish distillery breaks with tradition by double- rather than triple-distilling?

Almost all Irish whiskey also uses unpeated malt, the main exception being Connemara Peated Malt.

Which pest wrecked French brandy in the 1880s, making whisky the main spirit in many markets?

With grape crops ruined, blended Scotch from the new Coffey stills rushed in to fill the gap.

Amrut, the first Indian single malt, was launched in 2004 in which unlikely city?

It did not go on sale in India itself until 2010, by which time the country was the world's most lucrative whisky market.

Who began producing blended whisky in 1850 by mixing pot-still spirit with Coffey-still whisky?

Many Irish distillers argued the new product was not whisky at all, a dispute that dragged on for decades.

What is the usual minimum ageing period for whisky in the United States?

Ireland, Japan and Canada also generally require three years in wood.

The first distillery in India was founded in the late 1820s at Kasauli by whom?

Scotch had been introduced to the British Raj during the 19th century, and local production soon followed in the hills.

Which of these is NOT one of the five official Scotch malt whisky regions?

Some sources count the Islands (excluding Islay) as a sixth region, but the Scotch Whisky Association does not.

What is the maximum strength at which American straight whiskeys such as bourbon may be barrelled?

They must also be distilled to no more than 80% alcohol by volume, and only water may be added afterwards.