This is a name which crops up with great regularity on whisky websites and in the Scottish news generally however what do they do? You may say the clue is in the name and in its simplest form is an association formed from companies in the Scottish Whisky Industry. The association which is over 90 years old was set up to protect the interests of the Scottish Whisky Industry as a whole.  Its major role of late has been to protect the Scotch whisky industry from ‘fake’ whiskies produced around the world and then a ‘Scotch whisky’ label is attached to the whisky.  Only whisky from Scotland can be labelled Scotch whisky however this hasn’t stopped copycat versions of Scotch whisky appearing all over the world.  India in particular has a long history of producing ‘Scotch whisky’ however is by no means alone in this practice which continues today.  The Scottish Whisky Association takes legal action against these companies when left with no alternative however usually with the support of the British Embassy in that country will try to negotiate a change of labelling.

The other major role of the Scottish Whisky Association is to tackle protectionist laws in countries which tax imports of Scottish Whisky very highly against other alcohol products. This is common practice in many nations often to protect their own drinks industry, a good example of this Russia where vodka is given favourable tax treatment. Through the World Trade Organisation the Scottish Whisky Association is usually fighting many battles on many fronts to ensure the Scotch whisky industry has fair and open access to the markets. So in short the two main priorities of the Scottish Whisky Association are to fight tax discrimination and product falsification both damaging to the sales of whisky. This has even led to the Scottish Whisky Association fighting the Scottish Government over the taxation of whisky. Yes the irony.

Historians generally accept that alcohol was probably discovered in the Far East by Arab alchemists when developing new cosmetics and perfume. However as most of us know the Arab world had no real need for alcohol however the technique soon spread to Spain and then throughout the rest of Europe. The question from then on is how it developed and was it the Irish or the Scottish who developed whisky or whiskey. Although the first written record of whisky being sold comes from Scotland in 1494 it is more likely Irish monks developed the technique in Ireland before it spread to Scotland from there. There is no historical record of this however it is believed to have been around the 11th century. One hundred years later most farmers were producing whisky in Scotland. In these days there was no ageing process and the spirit was drunk soon after production (it must have been pretty rough).  It wasn’t until the mid-17th century when a barrel that had been lost was discovered that whisky as we would know it was discovered.  We are eternally grateful for this great whisky discovery.

Whisky remained a local product produced by local farmers and sold to the local community until the Act of Union with England in 1707 and whisky started to be taxed.  Very quickly a black market developed and smuggling was the employment of choice for many Scots. However the government of the day realised its mistake and by relaxing the amount of tax to be paid resulted in more whisky distilleries going legal.  A lesson perhaps that could be heeded today?

Internationally Gordon & MacPhail are known as independent bottlers of scotch whisky however they have many other strings to their bow than just the extremely successful Connoisseurs Choice series of fine Scottish whiskies. They are also the owners of Benromach whisky distillery located in Forres, Speyside. Gordon & MacPhail are also international and UK wholesalers not just of Scotch whisky but also have a vast range of wine and spirits available.  They are also beer wholesalers.

This giant of the Scottish Whisky Industry came to be in 1895 when founders John MacPhail and James Gordon opened a family grocers in the Scottish town of Elgin on the North East coast of Scotland.  The employed a young man by the name of John Urquhart who after the death of James Gordon became a senior partner and drove forward the whisky side of the business. His first bottlings were done under license from esteemed Speyside whisky distilleries such as Glen Grant, Glenlivet and Macallan. He was innovative and chose to mature his whiskies longer than what was the norm at the time; he also preferred Spanish Oak casks.

By 1950 John Urquhart had not only been joined by most of his family on the business, Gordon & MacPhail had amassed the largest range of single malt whisky in the world. This was a great achievement holding on to this over the 2nd world war. It was his son George Urquhart, who in the 1960’s launched the super successful Connoisseurs Choice label and exported the range to expanding whisky markets such as Holland, France, Italy and the USA. The markets continue to this day to be very important to the Scottish Whisky industry with the USA and France continuing to be the largest consumers of whisky globally.

The family tradition has continued at Gordon & MacPhail, George Urquhart brought his own children into the firm, with Ian, David and Michael joining the firm during the 1960’s and 1970’s. George’s daughter also joined the firm in 1981.

Gordon & MacPhail became a limited company in the 1970’s and the family run company has continued to expand successfully with George’s grandsons now being on the Board of Directors.

In earliest times whisky was decidedly a local product, a favourite of kings, clergy and commoners in its home territory. Production was limited to quantities sufficient to satisfy that market but insufficient to support anything but a small export trade. Vague references in medieval sources allude to its use in cementing foreign trading partnerships but there is little evidence of export in quantity before the late eighteenth century. The Lord  of the Isles is known to have exported small quantities to partners in the Baltic states but it would have remained as a rare and luxury item on the tables of lords and ladies rather than finding itself a drink of the people, as it was in its homeland, the highlands of Scotland.

An accident of history, namely the union with England contrived to change this. Scotland in medieval times was a favoured trading partner with France, and had access to high quality wines and brandies which satisfied a substantial part of the lowlanders thirst. The natural enmity between England and France made this an uncomfortable arrangement and the imposition of trading barriers created the need to look elsewhere. One was a switch to Port (note the number of scottish names attached to Port brands). More important for our story was the discovery of whisky by the lowland market. At the height of the early industrial revolution, lowland Scotland embraced whisky with a passion and the industry started to grow rapidly through investment and development of industrial techniques.

It was but a short step to the English market, then the colonies and the wider world. The rest is history.

The language of Scots is still spoken in Scotland however is unfortunately dying out but before we go into the reason why and what relationship this has to whisky we need to understand what Scots is. Many assume it is Gaelic, but Scots in reality this was only ever really spoken in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland however was used as the language of the Scottish Court.  But Gaelic was not widely used in the central belt where a mix of Northumbrian old English (mainly), French, Viking languages, and Dutch were mixed together creating what the Irish referred to as ‘scottis’. The language survives to this day as any Englishman trying to understand a conversation in a Glasgow pub will testify. But languages evolve over time, English is the perfect example where it has changed massively since Shakepearen time and has recently been heavily influenced by American English. America also provides another example where native Indian language has almost completely been lost.

So how does all this affect whisky drinkers? Well there are some scots words which you as whisky drinkers must have correct, the most controversial is whisky or whiskey. Neither is incorrect but if you are referring to whisky which comes from Scotland then it is essential you spell without the ‘e’.  I.E. There is no such thing as scotch whiskey! Furthermore there is no such thing as a scotch person.  We are either Scots or Scottish never scotch. The only time Scots use the word Scotch is for a soup called Scotch Broth. Scotch is generally a term used by our American friends. Another term you must learn is from scots Gaelic which is uisge beatha (whisky) which means ‘water of life’.   Complicated after a few drams too many.

A question often asked by people who are starting to gain an interest in Scottish Whisky is when did people start drinking whisky? A long time ago is the answer but we cannot exactly be sure of when whisky was first produced.  The earliest written record of whisky comes from the British ‘Rolls of the Exchequer’ in 1494 where by order of the King James IV, a Friar (priest) named John Cor was asked to make eight containers of malt whisky for the King.  At this time it was called Aquavitae (the water of life) which was translated into the Scots Gaelic ‘uisge beatha’ this was later anglicised to whisky.

The process of distillation is 1st recorded in Asia, learned by the Arabs and travelled to Scotland via Christian missionaries who it seemed spent a great deal of their time making alcoholic beverages, mostly beer in early times.  The Kings command came when he was visiting his hunting lodge and he discovered the spirit was being made at the nearby Lindores Abbey where production had been on -going for some time. The location gave them plentiful supply of Barley and peat to smoke it.  The abbey was unfortunately destroyed by the protestant John Knox.

During this time whisky was drunk more or less as soon as it was made and it is rumoured that it was an accident that someone found out it tasted much better when left in a cask for a period of time.  Of course now scotch whisky can only be called such if it has spent at least 3 years maturing.

The medieval name for distlilled spirits was ‘aqua vitae’ (water of life). This translates into scottish Gaelic as uisge beatha and the earliest English rendering, uskebeaghe (1581) eventually evolved into the word whisky.

Sounds like a dry fact but hidden in this is a suggestion that the product from the Gaelic heartland was quite a different drink from aqua vitae. If it had been the same then there would have been no need to borrow the Gaelic term into English.

What do we suppose the explanation to be. Well possibly two factors, local water and maturing in used oak barrels.

From ancient times the western fringe of Europe had a thriving maritime trade encompassing what are now Spain and Portugal at one end and what is now Scotland at the other. The earliest wines and spirits were stored in stoneware but oak barrels became the preferred option in some areas such as southern Spain where sherry production developed.

We know that sherry was a popular tipple in medieval Scotland under the name of sack. Thus a surplus of used sherry barrels. What better than these to store the local uisge beatha. But no-one could have predicted the magical result. Giving us Whisky, a distinct and refined drink with endless variation spawned in each area from a mix of barrel, local water and techniques.

Yesterday’s accident of history leading to today’s sophisticated pleasure.

Trapped between fact and fiction, history and myth, scotch whisky like the Gaelic  culture which gave it birth emerges as a celebration of all that was best in that celebrated past.

Central to the product in every community was the ‘master of malts’, responsible for the production from brewing through distillation and then finishing in oak barrels. Often in early days, this art rather than craft, was passed from father to son developing in each area a product distinct from that of even close neighbours. In the earliest period only single malt whiskies were produced, blends being a product of later commercialisation. Even to this day the highest form of the art of whisky production in Scotland rests in the production of single malts, art over science in the hands of the master of malts.

Exactly how single malt whisky developed is lost in the mists of time. It is attested in early medieval literature that distilled liquor was produced in the highlands. Also attested is the import of claret (clairet) and sherry (sack) both in oak thus providing an ample supply of used barrels for storage.

The oak barrel is central to the finished quality of each single malt whisky and the responsibility for the selection of the barrels falls to the ‘master of malts’. But that is only part of the story. Every part of the process and the quality of every ingredient influences the nature of the finished product. Even the fuel used to fire the brewing or distillation can subtly influence the final flavour.

It rests with the master of malts to ensure the quality of the finished article and if necessary produce a variety of finished products by his unique subtlety of touch.

It is testimony to the art that every producer brings to the market a product distinctive of its place of birth but remaining distinctively Scottish. From the smokey single malts of Islay, through the dark highland varieties to the lighter touch of speyside the hand of the master of malts can be detected, not tradition for its own sake but tradition as the basis of excellence.

Each master of malts in his own unique way carries the burden of maintaining a tradition which reverberates down through the ages. The names of these earliest masters may not be known but the product is ample testimony to their art.

The best testimony to these unsung heroes is in savouring the flavour of these single malt whiskies in pleasant surroundings and affable company.