India and the UK signed a landmark Free Trade Agreement on Thursday which will, among other things, bring down tariffs on Scotch whisky from 150% to 75% immediately, and to 40% over the next 10 years.

India is a “priority growth market” for the industry, according to the trade group Scotch Whisky Association. What is Scotch, and what is its history?

Alchemical origins

The word “whisky” comes from the Gaelic uisge beatha or usquebaugh which derive from the Medieval Latin aqua vitae, meaning “water of life”. While the Scots and the Irish disagree on the geographical provenance of whisky, its alchemical origins are beyond dispute.

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In the Consideration of the Fifth Essence of All Things, the 14th century alchemist John of Rupescissa recorded the preservative properties of the distillate of wine, which he called aqua vitae. “John…notes how meat left in the open air quickly begins to rot, but when immersed in alcohol it is preserved indefinitely…,” Johns Hopkins University professor Lawrence M Principe wrote in The Secrets of Alchemy (2012).

The earliest reference to aqua vitae in Scotland comes from a 1494 entry in the Exchequer of Rolls. “To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae, VIII bolls of malt,” the entry states (translated to modern English). (1 boll =140 pounds or roughly 63.5 kg).

In the 15th century, aqua vitae “might be drunk by royalty and the nobility but it was not yet by any means the drink of the people”, Michael Brander wrote in The Original Scotch: A History of Scotch Whisky from the Earliest Days (1975). But it still was not the whisky we know today.

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Whisky becomes whisky

As techniques of distillation improved and became widespread in Scotland during the 16th century, the production of aqua vitae grew, and so did its reputation of having medicinal properties.

Raphael Holinshed’s 1578 text Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland said: “Beying moderatelie taken, it sloweth age; it strengtheneth youthe; it helpeth digestion… it abandoneth melancholie; it relisheth the harte; it lighteneth the mynde; it quickeneth the spirites… trulie it is a soueraigne liquor” (quoted by Brander).

A FEW WHISKY WORDS SCOTCH WHISKY is defined as “a spirit distilled in Scotland from water and malted barley (to which only whole grains of other cereals may be added), fermented by the action of yeast and matured for at least three years in oak casks in Scotland”, according to The Scotch Whisky Regulations, 2009. THE AGE statement on a bottle of Scotch refers to the youngest whisky in the blend or batch. A bottle with no age statement implies that the whisky has been blended for three years. During the ageing process, a portion of the whisky — on average 1-2% a year — is lost due to evaporation. This is called the “angels’ share”, with folklore attributing this loss to benevolent angels who claim their due from the whisky casks. Story continues below this ad SINGLE MALTS are made exclusively of malted barley, and are produced at a single distillery using pot stills. SINGLE GRAIN Scotch is made from a mixture of malted barley and other grains such as corn or wheat, and distilled at a single distillery using continuous column stills. BLENDED SCOTCH is a combination of single malt whisky and single grain whisky from different distilleries.

By the 17th century, the term uisge beatha was being used to refer to a spirit distilled from barley, the forerunner of whisky as we know today.

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“Crude though it may have been, often mixed with cinnamon and herbs, or sometimes with honey and oatmeal, to make it palatable, the modern whisky was slowly developing. Where the malt was dried with peat smoke, this and the pure mountain water must have already been adding its own unique flavour to Highland ‘uisge’,” Brander wrote.

Highland, Lowland whiskies

In 1644, the Scots Parliament introduced a duty “on everie pynt of aquavytie or strong watteris sold within the country” indicating that the spirit must have become fairly commonplace in Scotland by then. Such regulations would also shape how whisky developed differently in the different geographical regions of Scotland.

A map of Scotland showing the locations of its more than 150 whisky distilleries. Wikimedia Commons A map of Scotland showing the locations of its more than 150 whisky distilleries. Wikimedia Commons

In the northern Highlands, where enforcement of duties was lax, an illicit whisky economy thrived. The whisky here remained truer to its origins — malted barley, often peated, was the grain of choice, which gave Highland whiskies their distinctive bold and smoky flavours.

Lowland distillers, on the other hand, had no option but to pay the duties. This led to them experimenting with grains other than barley, since by the 18th century, duties primarily targeted the raw material rather than the finished product. Unlike the Highland “single malts”, Lowland whiskies often comprise a mix of grains including wheat and corn.

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Nineteenth century boom

Restrictions on whisky production were relaxed as late as 1823, after which the industry saw rapid growth. Three main factors led to a boom in Scotch whisky production and export in the 19th century, and cemented its popularity worldwide.

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First was the development of the column still in the 1830s, which allowed for the manufacture of far greater quantities of whisky at a time than the old pot still. While many high-end distillers still use pot stills, the column still paved the way for commercial production of whisky.

Second was the shortage of wine and brandy around the 1870s-1880s, primarily due to the scourge of phylloxera, a parasitic insect, that ravaged vineyards across France. “The English who had hitherto relied on brandy as their after-dinner drink were ready for a substitute… The 1880s and ’90s were to see a succession of brilliant Scots whisky salesmen taking London by storm,” Brander wrote.

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Third was colonialism, which carried whisky to countries around the globe — including India — where native elites took to the drink, often to ape the colonial masters.

Today, 152 operational distilleries in Scotland sell roughly 1.4 billion bottles of Scotch annually — more than American, Japanese, and Irish whiskies combined, according to the SWA.