https://www.barleymagazine.com/blog/the-battle-for-english-whisky
I left England before whisky making took off there, which might in part explain why I find the idea of English whisky odd.
Yet that doesn't explain why I feel uneasy about the idea of an English whisky. After some introspection, I now believe that my unease stems from conviction that the only whisky produced in Britain should be Scotch whisky.
Why, though, should I hold such a conviction? I don't believe that Scotland alone should make whisky; I'm not at all put out by the making of whisky -- or whiskey -- in Ireland, Canada, or the USA, for example. Nor does my conviction emerge from any pseudohistorical, quasi-mystical belief in whisky being the drink of "Celtic" or "Gaelic" peoples*; I don't experience any unease or sense of oddness when think about Japanese or Indian whisky.
I would guess instead that these feelings arise from a half-understood, half buried national identity within myself; that I am, among other things, not just English but British. That latter identity implies a recognition of and respect for the continuing existence of distinctive Scottish legal and political institutions. Alongside those obligations explicitly required by the Acts of Union, might there not also be a recognition of less formal agreements or bargains between the English and the Scots, one of those being the English understanding that they should not intrude on the whisky business?
I write this not out of any sense of English self abasement or uncritical love of all things Scottish - I still roll my eyes and grind my teeth when I think of The Solemn League and Covenant -- but out of an affirmative sense of being British.
Now, though, I am aware that sense of Britishness is waning. With that weakening of the sentiments of union come disputes of the type described in the linked article.
Anyway, I will down a glass of blended Scotch whisky tonight, which might help me sort out my thoughts on this matter!
*"Celtic" and "Gaelic" are better thought of as names for groups of languages rather than of peoples.
#Whisky #EnglishWhisky #ScotchWhisky #Britain #England #Scotland #NationalIdentity #Drink
