A Short History of Scotch

Scotch whisky has been made for more than five centuries — from monastery stills to illicit Highland bothies, Victorian blending houses and today's boom in new distilleries.

The first record: 1494

The earliest written reference is in the Scottish Exchequer Rolls of 1494: "eight bolls of malt to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aqua vitae". Distilling was then largely the craft of monks and physicians.

Taxes and smugglers

The Scottish Parliament first taxed spirits in 1644. After the Union of 1707, rising taxes — including the malt tax that sparked riots in 1725 — drove much Highland distilling underground. By the early 1800s thousands of illicit stills were hidden in the glens, and smuggled whisky often had a better reputation than the legal kind.

The Excise Act of 1823

The Excise Act of 1823 cut duty and made licensed distilling worthwhile. George Smith of The Glenlivet took out one of the first licences under it in 1824 — to the fury of his smuggling neighbours. Many of today's famous distilleries date from the decades that followed.

The column still and the rise of blends

In the late 1820s Robert Stein and then Aeneas Coffey (patent, 1830) developed continuous stills that made light grain whisky cheaply. Mixing it with characterful malts created blended Scotch, smoother and more consistent. Names like Walker, Dewar, Buchanan, Haig and Chivas built global brands.

Phylloxera

From the 1860s the phylloxera aphid devastated Europe's vineyards. Cognac became scarce, and Scotch — above all blended Scotch — stepped into its place as the gentleman's spirit across the British Empire and beyond.

Boom, bust and law

Overbuilding ended in the Pattison crash of 1898. In 1909 a Royal Commission answered the question "What is whisky?" in favour of including grain whisky. Wartime law in 1915–16 introduced a minimum maturation, soon set at three years. US Prohibition (1920–1933) closed Scotch's biggest market — officially, at least.

Single malt and the whisky loch

Most Scotch was drunk in blends until Glenfiddich began promoting single malt internationally in 1963. Overproduction in the 1970s created a "whisky loch", and in 1983 many distilleries closed, among them Port Ellen and Brora.

Today

Single malt's popularity has grown for decades. The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 set today's rules; dozens of new distilleries have opened; and closed legends have returned — Brora in 2021 and Port Ellen in 2024.