The Heritage of Scotch Whisky
Monks, Surgeon-Barbers and Royals

Scottish Economic Society
2010 Annual Conference

Ramada Jarvis Hotel, Perth

Monday April 12th, 2010

Discover the flavours of Scotch malt whiskies at this talk and tasting by Dr. David Wishart, Fellow of Management at the University of St Andrews, and author of Whisky Classified: Choosing Single Malts by Flavour.  Dubbed the "Carl Linnæus" of whisky by fellow whisky writer Charles MacLean, David Wishart was the first to categorise single malts by flavour.  His classification of single malt whiskies by their flavour is fully endorsed by the Scotch Whisky Industry, which honoured him by designating him a "Keeper of the Quaich" in 2006.

David will guide you through the history and romance of Scotch whisky, from the aqua vitae of the early monasteries, the alchemist's art of turning barley into medicine, and the hedonistic uisge beatha of remote Scottish crofts, to the taverns of Edinburgh's Royal Mile and hot toddies in the New Town. The surgeon barbers' monopoly in licensing whisky in 16^th century Edinburgh spawned illicit stills in Highland glens, battles with excisemen, and smuggling into the Royal Mile.

The Royal romance with "Scotch" started with George IV in 1822, blossomed under Queen Victoria at Balmoral, and continues with the Prince of Wales today.  Whisky is evoked in the poetry of Burns, in the travelogues of Stevenson, and in the art of Landseer and Wilkie. 

London may have toasted with brandy in the Regency period, but when a tiny beetle devastated Cognac in 1863, the upper classes turned to whisky and the famous Scotch brands were born.  David Lloyd George tried his best to kill it off in the cause of temperance, but he couldn't prevent the "Real McCoy" reaching the speak-easies of New York and Chicago during US Prohibition in the 1930s.

Today, the flavour of malt whisky is more diverse than ever, due to the influence of variable peating, cask preparation, extended maturation, and special finishing.  David describes his unique statistical classification by flavour based on sensory analysis, with six of Scotland's finest malts to taste. They span the "flavour spectrum", the range of flavours of single malt whiskies as described in David's book Whisky Classified.

David's tasting is sponsored by the distillers of Glenfarclas, Glengoyne,  Laphroaig, Macallan, Old Pulteney and Tullibardine single malt whiskies (prov).

David Wishart is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, a former Vice-President and Chartered Statistician. He is currently a Fellow of the School of Management, University of St Andrews.

References
Wishart D (2002, 2006), Whisky Classified: Choosing Single Malts by Flavour, Pavilion, London.
Wishart D (2009), The flavour of whisky, Significance, 6, 20-26.