How can a drink define a nation?
‘Whisky and freedom gang thegither’ wrote Robert Burns. Scottish history is much to do with ‘freedom’ – independence from England and centralised authority; independence of mind (one of the reasons why the country has produced such a phenomenal number of inventors and ‘Fathers of’ so many sciences); independence of spirit. The increasing popularity of distilled spirits eventually attracted the attention of the Scottish parliament, which introduced the first taxes on malt and the end product in the latter part of the 17th century. Ever increasing rates of taxation were applied following The Act of Union with England in 1707, when England set out to tame the rebellious clans of Scotland. The distillers were driven underground. A long and often bloody battle arose between the excisemen, or gaugers, as they were known, and the illicit distillers, for whom the excise laws were alien in both their language and their inhibiting intent. Smuggling became standard practice for some 150 years and
