Whiskey Trivia Questions and Answers
What is whiskey?
A: Whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain
mash.
Various grains are used for different varieties, including
what types of grain?
A: Barley, corn, rye, and wheat.
Whiskey is typically aged in what?
A: Wooden casks, generally made of charred white oak.
The typical unifying characteristics of the different
classes and types of whiskey are what?
A: The fermentation of grains, distillation, and aging in wooden barrels.
The word whiskey is an anglicization of what Gaelic word?
A: Uisce/uisge meaning water.
Distilled alcohol was known in Latin as what?
A: Aqua vitae ("water of life").
What are the word's two spellings?
A: Whisky and whiskey.
The spelling whiskey is common where?
A: In Ireland and the United States.
Whisky is used in every other what?
A: Whisky producing country in the world.
"Scotch" is the internationally recognized term for what?
A: "Scotch whisky".
The earliest records of the distillation of alcohol are in
what country, in the 13th century?
A: Italy.
The alcohol was distilled from what?
A: Wine.
When did the art of distillation spread to Ireland and
Scotland?
A: No later than the 15th century.
The first confirmed written record of whisky in Ireland
comes from 1405, in the what?
A: The Irish Annals of Clonmacnoise, which attributes the death of a chieftain
to "taking a surfeit of aqua vitae" at Christmas.
The first evidence of whisky production in Scotland comes
from an entry in the what?
A: Exchequer Rolls for 1494 where malt is sent "To Friar John Cor, by order of
the king, to make aquavitae".
James IV of Scotland (r. 1488–1513) reportedly had a great
liking for what?
A: Scotch whisky.
Between 1536 and 1541, what did King Henry VIII of England
do to the monasteries?
A: He dissolved them, sending their monks out into the general public.
Whisky production moved out of a monastic setting and into
where?
A: Personal homes and farms as the monks needed to earn money.
The distillation process was still in its infancy, and
whisky itself was not allowed to what?
A: Age, and as a result tasted very raw and brutal compared to today's versions.
The Old Bushmills Distillery in Northern Ireland, with a
license to distil Irish whiskey from 1608, is the oldest what?
A: Licensed whiskey distillery in the world.
After the English Malt Tax of 1725, most of Scotland's
distillation was what?
A: Either shut down or forced underground.
Scottish distillers started distilling whisky at night to
hide what?
A: The smoke from the stills. For this reason, the drink became known as
moonshine.
In America, whisky was used as "what" during the American
Revolution?
A: currency.
Who operated a large distillery at Mount Vernon?
A: George Washington.
During the Prohibition era in the United States the federal
government made what exemption for whisky?
A: If it was prescribed by a doctor and sold through a licensed pharmacy.
During this time, the Walgreens pharmacy chain grew from 20
retail stores to how many?
A: Almost 400.
A still for making whisky is usually made of copper, since
it does what?
A: It removes sulfur-based compounds from the alcohol that would make it
unpleasant to drink.
Whiskies do not mature in the bottle, only in the cask, so
the "age" of a whisky is what time?
A: The time between distillation and bottling.
Most whiskies are sold at or near what alcoholic strength?
A: 40% abv, which is the statutory minimum in some countries.
Whisky is probably the best known of Scotland's what?
A: Manufactured products.
In 2011, 70 per cent of Canadian whisky was what?
A: Exported, with about 60 per cent going to the US, and the rest to Europe and
Asia.
How many cases of Canadian whisky were sold in the US in
2011?
A: 15 million.
