30 Interesting & Unusual Whiskey Facts & Trivia
30 Interesting and unusual whiskey facts that seem unbelievable. Your top Whisky trivia points to intrigue and impress.
World Whisky Day
World Whisky day is quickly approaching. Held on the Saturday of May every year, world Whisky day exists to celebrate one of the most beloved and enjoyed spirits in the world. With cultural and location based variances, whisky is truly a spirit to be reckoned with.
From the peaty whisky of Scotland to the smooth and grainy Whiskey of America, there’s a whisky for everyone’s taste. World Whisky day held this year on the Saturday, 18 May 2024 and is the perfect excuse to drink the whisky you know, try a whisky you’re yet to explore or share your knowledge with fellow whisky lovers. Maybe even introduce someone new to the category.
30 Whisky Trivia and Facts Sure to Amaze
One easy and fun way to celebrate World Whisky day is to familiarise yourself with some whisky trivia. This doesn’t even have to be for World Whisky day, it just so happens that’s what has inspired this article. These Whisky facts are for any day! Some of these facts are downright interesting whilst others seem downright unbelievable. So scroll down, read through, enjoy, share, impress your friends with your fun Whisky knowledge and brush up on your own trivia so that the next time you you’re pouring out a dram of your favourite whisky, you have something interesting to say.
1. During World War II, many bourbon distilleries were converted in order to make fuel and penicillin.
2. Bourbon can be made anywhere in the United States, not just Kentucky. However...
3. 95% of all bourbon whiskey is produced in Kentucky.
4. Suntory has created its very own yeast strain: Suntoryeus Lactobacillus.
5. A 30-year-old cask of Macallan set a new world record in 2019 for the most expensive whisky cask ever sold at auction. $572,000.
6. Mountain Dew was originally meant to be a whisky chaser.
7. Frank Sinatra was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.
8. The co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson, demanded whisky on his deathbed but was refused it.
9. John Jameson, the founder of Jameson’s Irish whisky was in fact Scottish.
10. Charles Joughin, the baker on-board the Titanic, trod water for three hours before being rescued. He claimed he hadn’t really felt the cold due to the amount of whisky he had drunk prior to the accident whilst the ship was sinking.
11. Glenturret’s distillery famous cat, Towser the Mouser, is believed to have caught 28,899 mice in its 24-year lifetime, which begs the question: who was counting?
12. The average measure of whisky contains just 64 calories – fewer than a banana.
13. Jack Daniel’s is Tennessee whiskey, not bourbon.
14. Whisky in Gaelic reads ‘uisge beathe’, which means ‘water of life’.
15. The Suntory Yamazaki distillery’s first master distiller, Masataka Taketsuru, studied in Scotland before deciding to bring the craft home to Japan.
16. Victorian Illustrator, Tom Browne, drew a picture of a striding man on a menu during lunch with Lord Stevenson, one of Johnnie Walker’s directors. This eventually became the striding man you see on the bottle today.
17. Glenfiddich means ‘valley of the deer’.
18. Canadian whisky was once known as ‘brown vodka’.
19. Approximately 2% of whisky gradually evaporates through the barrels each year. This is famously known as the angel's share
20. Many distilleries store casks of whisky belonging to other brands and distilleries in their warehouses. This way, if a fire or catastrophe occurs, they won’t lose all their stock.
21. Moonshine is typically un-aged whisky with a high alcohol content, which is made illegally. It’s called moonshine because it would be created under the light of the moon, hidden from the eyes of the authorities.
22. The term ‘dram’ widely adopted in the Scottish vernacular, is believed to have evolved from an apothecary’s units of measurement.
23. during the prohibition era the only whisky legally imported by the US was scotch whisky, as it was often prescribed to ease many illnesses.
24. Both the “Whisky” and “Whiskey” words are correct. Whiskey is specific to Irish, and Whisky is Scotch.
25. There are more casks of aging whisky than there are people in Scotland.
26. The world’s leading importer of scotch whisky is France.
27. Whiskey is the official state beverage of Alabama.
28. Nikola Tesla drank Whiskey every day because it supposed it would make him live to 150.
29. Diabetics’ urine can be transformed into whiskey due to high sugar content.
30. 90% of Whiskey produced in the UK is intended for export.
Interesting right? I thought so to. If you want to know more about whisky here are some resources that may interest you.
