Scotch Its History and Romance
by Ross Wilson

title	author	publisher	year (first)	isbn	language	pp	book	size	edition
Scotch It's History and Romance	Ross Wilson	David &Charles -Newton Abbot, Devon, UK	1973	0715360914	english	184	hardcover, ill(bw)	145x224	1st

The cover introductory text reads: No traditional alcoholic drink enjoys such worldwide popularity as Scotch Whiksy. It is still the favourite beverage in Scotland, and hardly less so elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Yet today, whilst 10 million gallons are exported - 87 percent of the annual output. This international demand is quite recent. Even a decade of two ago, for instance, in was not a commonplace drink in New York bars and it was scarecely drunk at all in Paris. Nevertheless, as freely available as it is now in most parts of the globe, the average drinker knows extraordinary little of its manifacture or history. It is a unique spirit which has been a part of Scottish social life for centuries. In this concise account Ross Wilson, an authority on the subject, tells us aal we want to know about Scotch Whisky, and it makes a most romantic and often amusing stroy. One irony is that the man primarily responsible for making it into what has become a major industry was an Irishman - but that was the first and last foreign 'invasion' of this part of Scotland's heritage. The prolonged legal wrangle over the definition of what presicely the spirit is, and the troubled period of World War II, just when Scotch was internationally appreciated, are described in some detail. A clear account is given of how Scotch is distilled and blended, in which the important difference between the malt and grain whiskies is explained and emphasized. In addition the book includes useful appendices showing the remarkable upsurge in production and in the distilleries - which are easily accessible to visitors. It is hardly surprising that Robert Burns, an early enthousiast for the drink, is quoted liberally by the author, and a whole chapter is devoted to stories of Scotland's national drink and some of the characters -fictional and others- who have appreciated it. It has been drunk at births, marriages and deaths, consumed by politicians, tradesmen and clansmen, traded and smuggled. 'They administer it,'recorded an eighteenth-century traveller, 'in colds, fevers and faintings and it is a frequent prayer of theirs that "God may keep them from that disorder that whiksy will not cure".' Small wonder that Burns wrote, 'Freedom and whiksy gang thegither,' for in the land of its origin it is a truly democratic drink. Ross Wilson's Scotch is the perfect fireside book - with, or even without, a glass of the 'water of life' at hand. The book has 16 photographs printed on special pages, and 5 in text illustrations.

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The contents of this book consist of:

Introduction	by Ross Wilson
Chapter 1	Turning Scotch into an Industry
Chapter 2	The Romance of Scotch Whisky
Chapter 3	Malt Whiksy Then and Now
Chapter 4	Scotch and World War II
Chapter 5	Stories about Scotch
Chapter 6	Scotch at Law
Appendices:
1	Scotch Distilleries Accepting Visitors
2	Scotch Whisky Distilleries
3	Scotch Whisky Production
4	Scotch Whisky in Bond
5	British Consumption of Scotch
6	Scotch Whisky Exports
Index
List of Illustrations

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