This Saturday (May 18) is World Whisky Day and while there are some distinct differences between whisky, whiskey, and Scotch whisky, what is generally understood is that all can be enjoyed on this day. Below, I’m going to feature some of my favorite whiskies and whiskeys along with others I hope to sample one day.
Before we get into it, I don’t profess to be an expert on spirits. I began the Spirit.Ed column to educate myself and our readers on the history of cocktails, spirits, beer, and wine and I’m still learning new things daily.
Case in point, the term whisky applies to spirits made in Scotland, Japan, or Canada, while whiskey applies to spirits made in the United States and Ireland. Adding to this, bourbon can only be made in the United States and must feature a mash bill of 51 percent corn before other grains are introduced. Further, Kentucky bourbon, as you might get from the name, can only be called as such if it’s made in the state.
Enough nerding out about that for now. Let’s get into the history of World Whisky Day.
The holiday was officially established in March 2012 by University of Aberdeen student Blair Bowman, who was 21 at the time. According to Whiskey Partners, Bowman was studying in Barcelona and remarked that whiskey didn’t have a global holiday as other adult beverage so he took it upon himself to enact a website to get the ball rolling.
“When I was in Barcelona it was World Gin Day and I saw it was a global trending topic on Twitter, which I think was still fairly new back then. I thought it was an interesting concept that was obviously popular so I wanted to find out when World Whisky Day was. I Googled it and couldn’t find anything about it. World Gin Day had a great website with ideas of things to do on the day and places that were celebrating it,” Bowman shared as reported by Whiskey Partners.
Bowman’s initial World Whisky Day celebration was a success, so much so that the Scottish Government, Scotland’s tourism board, and other organizations stamped it as an official holiday taking play on the third Saturday in May annually.
Bowman’s focus was primarily Scotch whisky to my understanding but the event is meant to include other whiskeys and whiskies hence why this roundup will be a little all over the place.
Pour yourself a good dram this weekend and happy World Whisky Day. Cheers!
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Photo: Getty
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