Free Republic

A fact to nail down right off the bat when finding the dividing line between these two spirits is that ... all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. To explain — whiskey is a catch-all term for spirits distilled from fermented grain mash; this can include any combination of grains — think corn, rye, barley, and wheat. Bourbon is a subcategory of whiskey with distinctive details. According to the American Bourbon Association, for whiskey to earn the bourbon label, it must contain at least 51% corn in its grain mix. Additionally, it needs to be: distilled to...

A bottle of Scotch whisky barreled in 1926 and bottled in 1986 sold at auction for over $2 million, shattering records for spirits of its kind. The bottle of Macallan 1926 sold for a staggering $2.1 million on Saturday, far surpassing organizers' expected selling price. Sotheby's, the historic auction house that oversaw the sale, originally expected the bottle to sell somewhere between $934,000 and $1.4 million. At that price point, the whiskey is worth approximately $131,000 per shot. Only 40 bottles of Macallan 1926 have ever been produced, and they are not for sale. Instead, the 40 luxury bottles of...

The Macallan keeps its streak alive as the most coveted Scotch brand on the planet.If you forget about a $20 bill in your coat pocket and find it 30 years laters, it's still worth $20. But the same cannot be said for rare whisky. If you forget about a cask of Scotch you bought for $6,275 in 1988, three decades later, it may be worth nearly $1.3 million. A cask of The Macallan distilled in 1988 is laying claim to the record for most expensive whisky cask ever sold at auction after fetching $1,295,500 on Sunday from an unnamed American...

It’s been a day of good news for the Scotch whisky industry. Following the announcement that the U.K. government wouldn’t raise taxes on alcohol, the U.S. has announced that it is suspending tariffs for four months on a number of goods produced in the U.K., including single malt Scotch whisky. The Scotch whisky industry had lost £500 million ($700 million) in business from the tariffs and exports had plunged to a 10-year low, so understandably this is a big relief for the industry.

At Safeway and picked up my dinner. Standing in line minding my own business. Gal in front of me starts looking around and suddenly turns directly to my face "You need to back up!" she exclaimed. Slight LOL "I don't think I heard you" my reply "You are standing to close! You need to move away!" She hissed. "Okay" I responded. Walked past her and she says "Whuh!", place my dinner on stack of beers at front of the register and then exclaims "Well, that's..." I kept on walking. I don't need no shit off some thin lipped, mealy mouth,...

The Macallan 1926 60-year-old single malt from cask number 263 had been estimated to sell for between £350,000 and £450,000. Sotheby's, which held the auction, did not release the identity of the buyer. The previous auction record for a single bottle of Scotch was £1.2m, set by another bottle from the same cask in November last year. Sotheby's described The Macallan 1926 from cask number 263 as the "holy grail" of whisky. Iconic bottles The cask, which was distilled in 1926 and bottled in 1986, produced only 40 bottles. The bottle featured at the auction as part of what Sotheby's...

Whether you like bourbon, scotch, whiskey, you will not be able to put this book down until you have read all 262 pages of everything about whiskey over and over again. Lew Bryson covers it all from what is in whiskey, how it is made, what are the detail flavors, content, chemistry, and what causes them. He covers all the best brands, aging and what makes them all different. Such an unbelievable resource for finding your favorite whiskeys that you will keep it close by...I read some of it every day!

Why is Scotch whisky so intimidating? There's something about this spirit — which is really nothing more than malt or grain-based whisky made in Scotland — that's got an intimidating rep. Well, once you know how to drink Scotch — and learn that it's not so scary after all — you'll be that cool, breezy bar-goer sipping Scotch like it's no biggie. First, the basics: all Scotch whisky has to meet certain legal standards to be granted it's name. Chiefly, it must be aged in oak barrels for at least three years. Scotch comes in two forms, single malts (all...

Scotland has called for Scotch to be defined in U.K. law so its vital whisky industry can be protected after Brexit. Scottish Economy Secretary Keith Brown has written to officials asking for strong legal protections for the industry, which is worth around £4 billion ($5.3 billion) in exports. A European Union definition of whisky currently protects sales from substandard products — but EU laws will no longer apply to Britain after the country exits the bloc in 2019. …

Burns Night, held in honour of Scotland's most famous poet Robert Burns, is celebrated at the end of January every year – but what is is all about? The night is a way to remember the life of the 18th century bard and it falls on his birthday – January 25. Robert Burns wrote Auld Lang Syne ... sort of Robert Burns didn't invent "Auld Lang Syne" as we know it, rather he was the first person to write down a much older Scottish folk song. The full ritual of the night involves whisky, haggis and poetry readings. Once all...

Human Skull Found at Former Drambuie Mansion A human skull has been discovered in the grounds of a mansion previously occupied by the chairman of Scotch whisky liqueur brand Drambuie. As reported by the Scottish Daily Record, police have found what is believed to be a woman’s skull at Gogar Mount House, where Drambuie chairman Mary Mackinnon lived until 10 years ago. The property and its 23-acre grounds was also previously owned by whisky distiller Sir Robert Usher in the 1800s. Police expanded their search for any further remains to a nearby golf course and other areas. In particular, a...

A crate of Scotch whisky that has been frozen in Antarctic ice for more than a century is being slowly thawed by New Zealand museum officials. The crate of whisky was recovered earlier this year - along with four other crates containing whisky and brandy - beneath the floor of a hut built by British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton during his 1908 Antarctic expedition. Four of the crates were left in the ice, but one labelled Mackinlay's whisky was brought to the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island, where officials said it was being thawed in a...

The world's oldest malt whisky - costing up to £10,000 a bottle - went on sale today. The Mortlach 70-year-old Speyside was sampled by a select group of tasters at a ceremony in Edinburgh Castle. Bottles of the rare piece of Scotland's 'liquid history' have now hit the market. Only 54 full-size bottles, costing £10,000 each, and 162 smaller bottles at £2,500 have been made available. The whisky has been released under Gordon and MacPhail's Generations brand. It was filled into its cask on October 15 1938 on the order of John Urquhart, the grandfather of the firm's joint managing...

That's the spirit! Cases of Mackinlay's 'Rare Old' scotch whisky have been recovered from the ice outside Shackleton's Antarctic hut. What will it taste like? After some hype and anticipation news has emerged that the crates of whisky long suspected to have been entombed by ice outside Sir Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic hut have finally been recovered. A team from the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust have managed to extract five cases, three of Chas Mackinlay & Co's whisky and two containing brandy made by the Hunter Valley Distillery Limited, Allandale (Australia), which were abandoned by the expedition in 1909 as...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – This Scotch has been on the rocks for a century. Five crates of Scotch whisky and two of brandy have been recovered by a team restoring an Antarctic hut used more than 100 years ago by famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. Ice cracked some of the bottles that had been left there in 1909, but the restorers said Friday they are confident the five crates contain intact bottles "given liquid can be heard when the crates are moved."

They say whisky matures with age...but leaving it embedded in the Antarctic ice for almost 100 years may be going a bit far.

CAPE ROYDS, Antarctica — This spit of black volcanic rock that juts out along the coast of Antarctica is an inhospitable place. Temperatures drop below –50 Fahrenheit and high winds cause blinding snowstorms... But if you happen upon the small wooden hut that sits at Cape Royds and wriggled yourself underneath, you'd find a surprise stashed in the foot and a half of space beneath the floorboards. Tucked in the shadows and frozen to the ground are two cases of Scotch whisky left behind 100 years ago by Sir Ernest Shackleton after a failed attempt at the South Pole. Conservators...

In 2010, researchers and conservators from the Antarctic Heritage Trust of New Zealand made quite the interesting discovery. Hidden beneath the hut legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton used during his 1908 Antarctica expedition (known as the Nimrod) were five crates covered in ice: three containing whisky and two containing scotch! This wasn’t the only discovery made by the Trust either; they also found a notebook and photos from similar expeditions on the continent.From: Youtube / Shackleton Whisky After the whisky was discovered, one crate was sent to New Zealand where it was thawed and displayed for the public at Canterbury Museum. Three of the bottles...

SCOTTBASE, Antarctica (AP) — Talk about whisky on ice: Three bottles of rare, 19th century Scotch found beneath the floor boards of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackelton's abandoned expedition base were returned to the polar continent Saturday after a distiller flew them to Scotland to recreate the long-lost recipe. But not even New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who personally returned the stash, got a taste of the contents of the bottles of Mackinlay's whisky, which were rediscovered 102 years after the explorer was forced to leave them behind. "I think we're all tempted to crack it open and have a...

Not content with having the best whisky in the world, Suntory Holdings Ltd. plans to take its whisky out of this world and into space. The Japanese brewing and distilling company said this week it would send a total of six samples of its whiskies and other alcoholic beverages to the International Space Station, where they will be kept for at least a year to study the effect zero gravity has on aging. According to a spokesman at the company, the samples, which will be carried in glass flasks, will include both a 21-year-old single malt and a beverage that...