European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Scotch 5 00 a Well aged scotch whisky Marks its 500th year by Graham Heathcote the associated press scotch whisky is the Quot cup o kindness Quotin Robert Burns new year s song Auld Lang syne. It is the potion Queen Victoria was accustomed adding daily to her Tea. High tee nth Century scottish poet and novelist James Hogg called it the elixir of everlasting life claiming Quot if a body could just find out the exact proper proportion and Quantity that ought to be drunk every Day and keep to that i verily Trow that he might Leeve for Ever without dying at and that doctors and Kirk Yards would go oot o Hogg died in 1835, but his drink has not gone out of fashion. This year Scotland s 105 distilleries Are celebrating a 500th birthday with scotch 500. A Murdo Reed who manages a distillery in the scottish Highlands tells visitors Quot you need three things to make malt whisky water malted Barley and yeast a and we have been making it the same Way for 151 Reed and the other 15 men at the distillery in Tain produce a single malt whisky called Glen Orangie a which Means Quot Glen of Tranquillity Quot in gaelic a that outsells All other single malts in Scotland. It is part of the very big scotch whisky business. A. Quot scotch outsells every other spirit in. World markets Quot says Tony Tucker a spokesman for the scotch whisky association in Edinburgh. Quot scotch a a and it can Only be called that if it s distilled and matured in Scotland least three years a is exported to 190 countries and generates around $3 billion in overseas sales a year. Exports. Account for 85 percent of scotch whisky production and one fifth of the total of Scotland s manufactured although it is certainly older than 500 years the first written record of distilling in. Scotland is a document in the scottish record office in Edinburgh noting that Friar John Cor a Monk near St. Andrews was permitted in 1494 to take delivery of eight bolls of malt to make Aqua Vitae latin for water of life meaning a Strong spirit. Quot eight bolls was More than one ton enough to make about 1,400 bottles so the Friar must have been in a fair Way of business Quot Tucker says. Aqua Vitae was a Isle Beatha or us Kuebaugh in gaelic and the name gradually became corrupted to whisky. A a. At Glen Orangie on three tiered Racks Over earthen floors in naturally cold warehouses the Saffron Gold spirit matures for 10 years in barrels of american White Oak felled in the Ozark mountains of Missouri and previously used for aging Bourbon in Kentucky. For a Richer More expensive bottle some of the spirit is left for 18 years. Quot lying in the Wood transforms and mellows the whisky in a magical Way Quot says Reed a Stocky Moon faced Man who is Only the sixth manager of the distillery since it was founded in 1843. Quot the Bourbon seasons the Wood and unlocks its natural the whisky loses 20 percent volume to evaporation and soaking during 10 years in the barrel and 30 percent Over 18 years a loss known As the Angels share. There Are two kinds of scotch malt whisky made from Barley which is soaked and germinates and Grain whisky made mostly from unsalted cereals. Both kinds Are mainly used for blends in which up to 50 different whiskers May be mingled. Single malts and some single grains Are bottled alone. This year the Glen Orangie distillery received a letter from a fan in Illinois who first tasted its product in new Orleans. Quot a kind waiter responded to my request for a single malt with a Glass of Sunshine and sea air. My ears popped my head cleared my posture improved and i heard and saw clearly for the first time in my life Quot wrote the enthusiast who compared the taste of the last drop to Quot smoke and Sweet . Water is the crucial element and the elusive elements vary from place to place. Most distilleries in Scotland have soft water but Glen Orangie s is hard bubbling up at the Garlogie Spring after Tan Macleod checks one of eight Copper stills at Glen Orangie distillery. Falling As. Rain on Tain Hill and draining through Sandstone Over 50 to .100 years. Quot we re not sure what it does,.but we Are sure that if you alter the water you upset everything Quot Recd says. A the 16 men of Tain have been featured in the company s advertising and the. Company clings to that craftsmen to maintain the image mailman Mas men still men Coopers warehousemen a tractor Driver Security officer and two managers. Apart from an annual shutdown for two or three months for maintenance and to avoid overproduction whisky making goes on night and Day. Spirits Are heavily taxed in Britain at double the rate for imported wine so the 4.2 million Gallons in store at a Glen Orangie represents a Fortune for the government. A excise duty Ami Purchase tax account for about 65 percent of a blended whisky costing about $1 6 for a 70 Centi liter bottle. A 10-year-old Glen Orangie retails in Britain at 529.32 and an 1 8-year-old at $41.63. Alas the High Cost of whisky May lie at. Least partially to blame for a declining a Market. Her majesty s customs and excise says whisky production has fallen about 21 percent since 1984, still Don t be surprised if the Quot cup of kindness Quot is around for another 500 years. European Telephone numbers. And what they mean calling the Paris Uso from Italy or Germany 00 33 1 40.70.99.68 calling the . Embassy in Bonn from the United kingdom 010 49 228 3391 this is the International Access code. From Many countries including Germany and Italy it is 00, from the United kingdom it is 010. This number gets you out of the country you Are calling from. This is the country code. It normally appears in parenthesis and is usually two or three digits. This number gets you into the country you Are calling. Many cities also have their own codes. Paris is 1. Bonn is 228, Berlin is 30, Frankfurt is 69. In Italy Rome is 6 and Naples is 81. The last set of numbers is the local Telephone. For example All numbers in Paris have eight digits after the City code. It is common for periods to separate every two digits. Many european countries however Nave no set number of digits. If calling from inside most countries drop the Access and country codes and add a 0. To Access an International line from Canada and the United states dial 011 from Germany dial 00 from Italy dial 00 from the Netherlands dial 00 from Spain dial 07 from the United kingdom dial 010 then dial the country code Austria 43 azores 351 Belgium 32 Bulgaria 359 Canada 1 Croatia 385 Cyprus 357 czech Republic 42 Denmark 45 Egypt 20 Finland 358 France 33 germany49 great Britain and Northern Ireland 44 Greece 30 Greenland 299 Hungary 36 Iceland 354 Ireland 353 Israel 972 Italy 39 Kulak 965 Liechtenstein 41 Luxembourg 352 Malta 356 Monaco 33 Morocco 212 Netherlands 31 Norway 47 Poland 48 Portugal 351 Romania 40 saudi Arabia 966 Slovakia 42 Slovenia 386 Spain 34 Sweden 46 Switzerland 41 Turkey 90 United Arab emirates 971 United states 1 a amps Susan Harris june 16, i tripes Magazine / 7
