21st May: World Whiskey Day

The third Saturday in May is World Whiskey Day - so here are some things you may not have known about whiskey! Cheers!

1. The word whiskey is derived from the Gaelic Uisge (pronounced 'uski') Beatha which means “water of life”.
2. Is it spelled "whisky" or "whiskey"? Some say it's down to personal preference but in general the accepted protocol is that "whisky" is produced in Scotland and "whiskey" anywhere else. Since I am providing you with facts about the drink in general and not specifically the Scottish variety, I'm going with "whiskey". A theory I found as to why there is a variation in spelling is that in Scotland, they believe spelling it with an extra vowel wastes drinking time!
3. Whiskey is basically Beer. Making beer is the first step in making whiskey. The beer is then distilled a few extra times.
4. While it is stored in barrels, whiskey evaporates at a rate of 4% a year. This natural loss is referred to as The "Angel's share".
5. Tabasco sauce is aged in barrels that previously contained Jack Daniels whiskey. It gives the sauce an extra kick.
6. The first confirmed written record of whiskey in Ireland comes from 1405, in the Irish Annals of Clonmacnoise, which attributes the death of a chieftain to "taking a surfeit of aqua vitae" at Christmas. In Scotland, the first written mention is an entry in the Exchequer Rolls for 1494 where malt is sent "To Friar John Cor, by order of the king, to make aquavitae", enough to make about 500 bottles.
7. The first whiskey in the UK was produced by monks, in particular the Guild of Surgeon Barbers, which held the monopoly on production. After Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the monks who survived would produce whiskey in their homes to make a living. The term "moonshine" comes from when most of Scotland's distillation was either shut down or forced underground by the English Malt Tax of 1725. Distillation was done at night, so the authorities couldn't see the smoke from the stills.
8. In 1799, the largest producer of Whiskey in the USA was none other than George Washington himself. During prohibition in the US, it was possible to get a medical prescription for whiskey. At the time, they weren't aware of any actual medicinal properties, although now it is claimed drinking a moderate amount helps prevent dementia, stroke, Heart disease and even cancer.
9. Whiskey can survive temperatures below -30 Celsius. A crate of Mackinlay whiskey dating from 1896 or 1897 was found in Antarctica in 2011, and it wasn't frozen.
10. To finish, a couple of whiskey related world records. The World's Oldest Whiskey is a 400ml bottle of Glenavon Special Liqueur Whiskey, rumoured to be packaged in between 1851 and 1858 and owned by an Irish family till it was auctioned off to Bonhams in London for £14,850. The most expensive whiskey in the world is a Lalique decanter of Macallan ‘M’ whiskey which was auctioned for £393,109 in Hong Kong. The decanter contains 6 litres of whisky drawn from Spanish Oak sherry casks dating from the 1940s to the 1990s.