Scotch!

National Scotch Day!!

On June the 1st, 1495, a Scottish Friar and distiller by the name of John Cor recorded the very first written mention of Scotch Whisky in history. The document was the annual Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, which means that the first recorded mention of Scotch Whisky was in the government tax books. Brilliant!

The actual notation:

"To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of malt."

 -- Exchequeur Rolls 1494-95, Volume X, p. 487

PHOTO : Wait At The Bar

I have been enjoying Scotch Whisky for well on thirty years now, but not until recently did I really know what the difference was between "whisky" and "whiskey"?

Aren't they the same thing, just spelled differently??

Just this past February, "The Old Grey Lady" a.k.a. The New York Times, after succumbing to numerous complaints from its readership, began to differentiate between the two spellings. Generally, American and Irish liquor producers tend to favor the spelling "WHISKEY" and Canadfian, Scottish, and Japanese producers favour the spelling "WHISKY". All of this seemed to suit the copy editors at the newspaper just fine.

Now I can sleep at night knowing that my whisky is spelled correctly.