Since it looks like more than a couple of readers are whisky aficionados I thought I'd bleg for help on a little curiosity. From time to time I see a whisky referred to as a being a fine "breakfast whisky" and yet I have no idea what the qualities of such a drink are. I don't know much about the practice of drinking whisky with or before breakfast, though I do suspect it is rather bracing. I know of two early textual sources where such a practice is referenced. The first is Dr. Samuel Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. In the Autumn of 1773 Johnson visited the the Hebrides, or Western Islands of Scotland, with his trusty sidekick Boswell. Johnson writes that the men of Hebrides would have a dram if whisky followed in short order by breakfast. Johnson notes that the Scots were not drunkards, and that "no man is so abstemious as to refuse the morning dram." I've seen this variously called skalk and scatch. The other reference is from Boswell's Life of Johnson. On the same trip Boswell has a bit to much fun on the night of Saturday September 25th. Apparently after Johnson went to bed Boswell felt obliged by social honor and the good nature of his host to stay up until five in the morning passing the bowl. Waking at close to noon the next day Boswell was plied with a dram as bit of hair-of-the-dog.
If anyone knows anything about the practice of having a dram before breakfast I'd like to know about it. I'd also be interested in the qualities to look for in breakfast whisky. The relevant quotes of Johnson and Boswell are below.
"A man of the Hebrides, for of the women’s diet I can give no account, as soon as he appears in the morning, swallows a glass of whisky; yet they are not a drunken race, at least I never was present at much intemperance; but no man is so abstemious as to refuse the morning dram, which they call a skalk.
The word whisky signifies water, and is applied by way of eminence to strong water, or distilled liquor. The spirit drunk in the North is drawn from barley. I never tasted it, except once for experiment at the inn in Inverary, when I thought it preferable to any English malt brandy. It was strong, but not pungent, and was free from the empyreumatick taste or smell. What was the process I had no opportunity of inquiring, nor do I wish to improve the art of making poison pleasant.
Not long after the dram, may be expected the breakfast, a meal in which the Scots, whether of the lowlands or mountains, must be confessed to excel us. The tea and coffee are accompanied not only with butter, but with honey, conserves, and marmalades. If an epicure could remove by a wish, in quest of sensual gratifications, wherever he had supped he would breakfast in Scotland." -- Samuel Johnson (A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland)
"I awaked at noon, with a severe head-ach. I was much vexed that I should have been guilty of such a riot, and afraid of a reproof from Dr. Johnson. I thought it very inconsistent with that conduct which I ought to maintain, while the companion of the Rambler. About one he came into my room, and accosted me, 'What, drunk yet?' His tone of voice was not that of severe upbraiding; so I was relieved a little. 'Sir, (said I,) they kept me up.' He answered, 'No, you kept them up, you drunken dog:'-This he said with good-humoured English pleasantry. Soon afterwards, Corrichatachin, Col, and other friends assembled round my bed. Corri had a brandy-bottle and glass with him, and insisted I should take a dram. 'Ay, said Dr. Johnson, fill him drunk again. Do it in the morning, that we may laugh at him all day. It is a poor thing for a fellow to get drunk at night, and sculk to bed, and let his friends have no sport.' Finding him thus jocular, I became quite easy; and when I offered to get up, he very good naturedly said, 'You need be in no such hurry now.' I took my host's advice, and drank some brandy, which I found an effectual cure for my head-ach. When I rose, I went into Dr. Johnson's room, and taking up Mrs. M'Kinnon's Prayer-book, I opened it at the twentieth Sunday after Trinity, in the epistle for which I read, 'And be not drunk with wine, wherein there is excess.' Some would have taken this as a divine interposition." -- James Boswell (Life of Johnson, Sunday September 26th)
Although I can't, unfortunately, remark as to what makes a great breakfast whisky, a recent NPR tidbit did remark on the practice of drinking cocktails for breakfast. This was an apparently acceptable practice among certain segments of society at one point (understood as an elixir of sorts), and the name 'cocktail' might even have its roots in the rooster's old duster.
Perhaps whisky was once held to have the same benefits?
Check out our (Easy Drinking Whisky Company) Smooth Sweeter One. A marriage of soft single malts from the Cooley Distillery in Ireland and the Bunnahabain distillery in Scotland (on Islay to be more specific). Lots of soft vanilla notes with citrus and fresh green fruits and maybe a touch of cinammon spice. Surely the perfect thing to put in your porridge? Or so our mate Tony Stone thinks -check out his porridge bars in Edinburgh or at festivals and events this summer - see www.stoatsporridgebars.co.uk
In Good Spirit!
Andy
Chief Snozzle Agent
Easy Drinking Whisky Co.
Edinburgh
Thanks for dropping by Andy! I just read an article about whiskies and Stoats Porridge Bars in The Star. Since you don't have any vendors nearby I looked to buy a bottle online. I found your whisky to be reasonably priced, but shipping to the US is a killer. One place had a £37.00 surcharge for a single bottle.
Maybe you guys should brave a promotional trip to the heart of bourbon country. We've already got a built in base of whiskey drinkers. Failing that you could always send me a promotional bottle for review. I'm a whisky evangelist so it'd be money well spent...
When tidying up the living room on the morning after a particularly good evening of whisky, you often encounter a number of half drunk whiskies. If the whisky is good enough, you will drink it. Otherwise it will go down the sink and for a good whisky, this would be wastefull. Breakfast Whisky has passed this quality indicator.
Breakfast whisky is like other whiskies you enjoy, only it is finished in casks that once contained maple syrup. Try the Mrs. Butterworth's 10 year expression.
Okay, I'm out, I've got nothing. Preach on, Whisky Evangelist!
Christopher,
That's the funniest thing I've heard in days!! Thanks!
There is an element of truth in what you say since whisky is aged in oak barrels which contribute the color, vanilla flavors, and of course sugars. This is much more pronounced in bourbon whiskey, which uses fresh chared oak barrels, than it is in scotch. I hope to have a post about the role of the cask in the near future.
I stumbled onto your blog from a blog archive. Noticed that we share the same surname and browsed a bit.
It happens I just took a trip through "Bourbon country" and stopped at the Heaven Hill Distillery and Bourbon Heritage Center, where I tasted two Bourbons, one a seven year old Evan Williams-rough and hot and young, with some caramel notes and some earthiness/oak flavors, and the other an 18 YO Elijah Craig-subtle, sweet, butterscotch with fruit and oak notes, to quote Col. Potter from MASH, there ain't enough o's in smooth to describe it.
That (the distinct mellowing and additional complexity of flavors)is the primary role of the charred oak barrel in the aging of fine Bourbons, which is reported to have been the (accidental) discovery of Elijah Craig...
I believe Harry Truman was a practicing advocate of starting the day with a shot of whiskey, even while he was in the White House. I think he was a bourbon man.