Scotch whisky (malt aqua vitae)
Whisky escocés (aqua vitae de malta)
- Date
- 1494 · confidence medium
- Place
- Lindores Abbey, Newburgh, Fife, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Monks of Lindores (Friar John Cor)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
The 1494 Scottish Exchequer Rolls assign eight bolls of malt to Friar John Cor to make aqua vitae, the earliest written mention of whisky in Scotland. Distilled from malted barley and later aged in cask, it became a national drink.
Ireland claims priority: the Annals of Clonmacnoise mention uisce beatha in 1405 and alcohol distillation reached both islands via monasteries. Cask-aged whisky is later.
What it led to
- the whisky industry and Irish uisce beatha
- ageing in oak casks and appellations
- smuggling and taxation in Scotland and Ireland