Recently we have written articles about rum and gins histories and then realised we hadn't written one yet for our beloved whisky, now some of the connoisseurs amongst us may know a history of whisky, but we would like to recap and share the history of whisky for those possibly unfamiliar with the fabled spirits origins. 

The earliest record of alcohol distilling is in Italy in the 13th century but the record indicate that was wine often used for medicinal reasons. Distilling reached Scotland and Ireland in 15th century along with the rest of Europe distilling of Aqua Vitae whish is the Latin term for distilled alcohol mainly for medicinal purposes. 

1405 is earliest record of whiskey in Ireland when the Annals of Clonmacnoise,  a book/tome notes the death of chieftain from "surfeit of Aqua Vitae". And Scotland earliest record of whisky production is in 1495 when a entry was recorded in the Exchequer rolls, stating to Friar John Cor, by order of king to make around 500 bottles of aqua vitae. 

King James IV of Scotland was a huge whisky fan and liking for the spirit, in 1505 the town of Dundee, purchased a huge amount of whisky from the Guild of Barber-surgeons who held the early Scottish distilling monopoly.  At this point the distillation period was still very young brutal and raw, as whisky was not allowed to be aged. 

 1707 when England and Scotland merged into Great Britain the taxes on distilled products dramatically rose, then in 1725 another divisive tax act was introduced it forced most of Scotland's distillers to close or move their operation underground. Whisky was hidden from government officials in a variety of places such a as coffins and under altars. They also operated handmade stills and did a lot of distilling at night under the cover of darkness to hide smoke from the stills, this formed product known as moonshine. The underground market of distilling was once estimated to be around half of the production was illicit. 

At turn of 1823, the Excise Act was passed in the United Kingdom that allowed legalisation of alcohol distillation for a fee and this put a end to the very large production of Scottish moonshine. 

In 1831 Aeneas Coffey patented the Coffey still that could be used for cheaper and more efficient distilling, other than that not a huge amount of changed in the history of whisky other than a few tax laws and acts that didnt massivly overhaul any of the industry. 

The only other major note in the history of whisky is the prohibition era in the United States from 1920 - 1933 where all alcohol was banned from sale and consumption, but that's a story for another day and article. 

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