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WHAT about whisky during
the centuries when ale and claret were the chief handmaids to Scottish
mirth? Had it no existence? Were its virtues really unknown? Or did the
Scot, in Burns's phrase, ''twist" at it "his gruntle [Snout] wi' a
glunch [frown] o' sour disdain"? If it was unknown, who was its
discoverer, or how was it introduced? At least a fairly satisfactory
answer is possible. So far as the bulk of the Lowlands is concerned,
whisky was virtually nonexistent as a beverage till near the close of
the sixteenth century, and did not come into general use till very much
later. The name of its creator does not survive even in national myth;
the circumstances attendant upon its entrance on the stage of time are
involved in such a mystery as that which shrouds the origin of species.
The probability is that the general benefactor was some mighty "medicine
man" of the ancient Celts; but who he was and when or where he first
set up his still and called spirits from the yeasty malt remains
unrecorded. It is, however, well-nigh indubitable that in Scotland the
original manufacturers of whisky were the Celts of the Highlands. Usquebagh was made as early as the twelfth century by their cousins the
Celts of Ireland, and the presumption is that the art was known to their
common ancestors before the migration. Distillation is mentioned by the
Arab Geber, who flourished about 800; but whether Geber was known or not
to the inhabitants of mediaeval Britain, it is unlikely that a mere hint
from him would, as some writers have loosely and carelessly suggested,
inspire the British Celts to the production of usquebagh. No doubt the
art of distillation may have been discovered spontaneously by different
nations, but it is entirely inconsistent with facts to theorise that the
manufacture of whisky in Scotland originated in times comparatively
modern through the introduction of the art of distillation from England
or elsewhere. On the contrary, it is beyond question that usquebagh
figured in the rude orgies of the Celtic clans long before modern
influences had penetrated to their fastnesses. For centuries it may have
remained wholly unknown to their Lowland neighbours
dammed up, as it were, by the barriers of
alien custom and foreign speech. Hector Boece, who wrote about the
beginning of the sixteenth century, says of the ancient customs of the
Scots, that " at such times as they determined to be merry, they used a
kind of aqua nice void of all spice, and only consisting of such herbs
and roots as grew in their own gardens. Otherwise their common drink was
ale; but in time of war, when they were enforced to lie in camp, they
contented themselves with water, as readiest for their turns." Boece is
rather incorrect and credulous, and many of his statements must be taken
cam grano salis; but his native district bordered on the
highlands, and not in- probably the Highland custom of drinking
usquebagh was occasionally indulged in there, although himself appears
to have had a very indistinct and imperfect knowledge of the character
of the liquor.
Possibly the first to introduce usquebagh to the Lowlands were the
monks; and, at any rate, the earliest Lowlander associated with its
manufacture was a friar, John Coy by name, who in 1495 obtained eight
boils of malt from the exchequer for this purpose. Its Latin name, aqua
vi1a, also suggests conventual associations. In 1505 the right to sell
it in Edinburgh was conferred on the surgeons; and in 1557 Bessie
Campbell was summoned before the magistrates and ordered to cease from
vending it in the burgh except on days. The first Scotsman handed down
to posterity in connection with a case of drunkenness from whisky, was
probably the ill-fated Darnley on one occasion he distinguished himself
by making one of his French friends drunk on aqua compoita, of
the inebriating qualities of which the Frenchman may have been too
sceptical. An enactment that, by reason of the dearth of malt, no whisky
should he brewed or sold from the 1st of December, 1579, to the 1st of
December, 1580, except that nobles and men of rank might distil it from
their own malt for use in their families, would seem to prove that by
that time the liquor was advancing in popularity. It was much earlier in
general use in the west of Scotland than in Lowland regions—a fact which
may be accounted for either by their proximity to the Highlands or to
the districts of time Strathclyde Welsh. Early in the sixteenth century
the inhabitants of the western burghs—Ayr, Irvine, Glasgow,
Dumbarton—had liberty to furnish the inhabitants of the isles with "baken
bread, brown ale, and aqua vitae, in exchange for other merchandise." In
several towns and burghs bordering on the Highland regions whisky was
distilled in considerable quantities early in the seventeenth century.
The principal indications of its Lowland use at this time occur in the
districts fringing the Highlands, while the whole weight of evidence
leads to the conclusion that its use in the latter region was universal.
In 1616 the funeral expenses of Sir Hugh Campbell of Calder amounted to
£1,647 10s. 4d., Scots, of which no less than a fourth went in whisky;
while Taylor, the Water Poet, refers to the " most potent aqua vitae"
drunk at the great Highland hunt meeting of 1618. In 1638 it was not
sold in the taverns of Aberdeen, "wine, ale, or beer" being alone
mentioned in a regulation regarding their early closing but along with
ale or beer "strong waters aqua vita " was in 1655 forbidden by the town
council to be made or sold without a special license. By 1655 it was
also sold in Glasgow taverns, and in 1657 a special day was appointed
for fixing the excise on it.
In William Cleland's Poem upon the
Highland Host who came to Destroy the Western Shires in Winter, 16787
the Gaelic love of whisky is specially satirised.
A tap horn filled with usquebay "is
mentioned as one of time essential equip- merits of each; and, says
Cleland, after cataloguing the "good things," which the Hielaimdman doth
specially affect:-
"There's something yet I have forgotten
Which ye prefer to roast or sodden,
Wine and wastles, I dare say,
And that is routh of usequehay."
In the Covenanting times usquebagh was
contemned by the Presbyterians, both people and clergy ; but one of the
accusations brought in "Faithful Contendings against three of the
Covenanting preachers by the Covenanting General Hamilton was that "
when at any time they came out to the country, whatever things they had,
they were careful each of them to have a great flask of brandy with
them, which was very heavy to some, particularly Mr. Cameron, Mr.
Cargill, and Henry Hall."
By an Act of Parliament-of 1090, Duncan
Forbes of Culloden, in recognition of his loyalty during the rebellion
of Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, and in consideration of the
damage done to his lands and distillery of Ferintosh by the rebels,
received a perpetual liberty to distil grain at his "brewery of aqua
vitae of Ferintosh" on payment of a small specific composition in lieu
of excise. It is perhaps of importance to note that in this Act the
brewery is styled "ancient," which would seem to indicate that whisky
had been made at Ferintosh for at least a very considerable time, and
probably long before the property came into possession of the Forbeses
in 1670. The result of the grant was to give Forbes almost a monopoly in
the inastruture of whisky, for which Fetintosh continued to be a common
synonym even in the present century. In 1785 the privilege was
withdrawn, over £25,000 being paid in compensation. "Thee, Ferintosh! O
sadly lost" says Burns; and it may well be believed that the moderate
price at which Forintosh could be sold, had greatly aided in
popularising the liquor in the Lowlands. Many a Lowlander had doubtless
learned to appreciate the merits of usquebagh during the Highland
campaigns of Montrose and Dundee. Charles Edward in his wanderings had
frequently to be content with it; and on one occasion he and two
Highlanders finished a bottle between them, the larger share falling to
the prince. At that period a "drain" was the first article of
hospitality presented to a stranger on entering a Highland lint. Not,
however, till after the subjugation of the Highlands and the
amalgamation of the two peoples, did whisky come to be regarded as a
Lowland Scottish drink. It was not uncommon in the Lowlands, in the time
of the poet Fergusson, but he refers to it as "Highland,'' and in "Leith
Races" associates whisky-drinking only with the Highland guard of
Edinburgh.
To whisky pleuks that
burnt for 'oukst
On Town-guard soldiers' faces.
Their barber bauld his whittle crooks,
An' scrapes them for the races."
For many years before whisky came into
general use brandy had been drunk by the upper classes ; and among the
Highland gentry who affected the fashionable manners of the Lowlands
brandy had almost superseded their native liquor. In many districts of
the Lowlands the use of whisky was also preceded by that of gin from
England or ruin from Jamaica. In 1775 when Major Topham visited
Edinburgh whisky was not a fashionable liquor. In the oyster cellars
which he visited toddy appears to have been unknown. Punch was "quite
the thing,'' but the choice was between brandy and rum punch. Rum was a
specially favourite liquor in Glasgow (owing to its West Indian trade)
at the close of the century Strang, in his "Glasgow Clubs," states that
"rum punch was the universal beverage of the members of the Pig Club at
their dinners, as it was at those of all the jovial fraternities in the
city; and rum toddy was, as elsewhere, the accompaniment of every
supper. Whisky in those days, being chiefly drawn from the large
flat-bottomed stills of Killbaggie hennetpans, and Lochryan was only
fitted for the most vulgar and fire-loving palates; but when a little of
the real stuff from Glenlivet or Arran could be got—and to get it was a
matter of difficulty and danger—it was dispensed with as sparing a hand
as curaçoa or benedictine."
The appearance of the modern public-house on
the scene of Scottish rural life is chronicled by Hector MacNeill in his
Will and Jean" (1795) :-
Brattling clown the brae, and near its
Bottom, Will first marv'lling sees
'Porter, Ale, and British Spirits,'
Painted bright between twa trees.
Godsake, Tam, here's waith for drinking
Wha can this new corner be?'
Hoot ! ' quo Tarn, there's drouth in thinking—
Let's in, Will, and syne we'el see.'
Possibly Burns had considerable influence in
popularising whisky in Scotland. He mocked at those who wet "their
weasan with liquors nice"; he railed at ''brandy, burning trash,'' and
poured contempt on poor devils ''who meddled" "wi' bitter doarthful
wines"; and he patriotically extolled Scotia's native drink, the "barley
bree," whether in the form of ale, ''the poor man's wine," or in that of
whisky, soul o' plays and pranks! '' But ale is as frequently the theme
of his muse as the stronger liquor. This was that "barley bree" that
Willie, Nab, and Allan ''preed the lee lang nicht'; and it was from
"reaming swats that drank divinely" that Tam o' Shanter got courage to
gaze unabashed on the ''unco sight" in "Alloway's auld haunted kirk."
Whether Burns's praise of liquor has had a prejudicial effect on
Scottish life may be conimnended to the consideration of debating
societies. |
