First Recorded Batch of Scotch Whisky - June 1, 1494

I had a different one for this date, but when I went online researching another date, I found and couldn't resist this.

The Rolls of the Royal Exchequer recorded in 1494: “To Friar John Cor,by order of the King, to make aquavitae, VIII bols of malt”. Aquavitae means "water of life". It was translated into the Scottish Gaelic phrase "uisge beatha", which was anglicized into "whisky". Interestingly, I just learned that although most of the many types of whiskey are spelled with an "e", if you refer to Sctoch (as I am in this piece) you spell it without.

Whiskey got its' start in the West when the Arabs learned the distilling process from Asians in the 10th century. It moved up to Scotland via Christian missionaries. Friar John Cor, of the Lindores Abbey, was commisioned by King James IV to make the equivalent of 400 bottles of whisky while he was visiting his hunting lodge in Falkland. Lindores Abbey had apparently been making whisky for quite some time by then. They had rights to gather peat to smoke the liqour and had vast fields of barley to make malt. Unfortunately, Lindore Abbey was destroyed later byJohn Knox and his followers.

At first whisky was consumed very young. By accident someone discovered that the whisky in an old, forgotten cask tasted much better and less raw than the newer alcohol. Legally, in England, it cannot even be called whisky until has aged at least three years. Of course, whisky has been honored for its "medicinal properties". During Prohibition, it was legally obtainable through a doctor with a prescription. It has become a traditional drink of Scotland (thus the name Scotch) and was probably welcomed partly because it was a nice way to warm up in highland winters without central heating.

Scotch Whisky - Wikipedia
Lindores Abbey
History of Whisky Timeline - Scotchwhisky.net
Distilling Milestones - Dewar's Scotch Whisky site
Whiskey (word origin) - Random House
Whisky - The Whisky Guide
List of all Distillers in Scotland - with some pretty cool information tossed in
How Whisky is made