“WATER OF GOLD” – By Des Kelly

   There used to be a little rhyme or two, about the subject.

I am uncertain as to who will remember the little ditty,

               “Burgher buggers became beggers,

                after drinking whisky,

                most of them, whom I have known,”

                would then become quite frisky,

                they’ve had brandy, made them randy,

                though, not as much, I’m told,

                but, the cup that got them up,

                was this drink of pure gold”.    D.K.

     Of course, in old Ceylon, and now, in Sri Lanka, alcohol has never been, and never will be a problem. Unfortunately most of the “Burghers” have left this little Island Paradise, so now, it is left to the tourists (and happily, I believe that they are starting to “come back”), after the recent problems that the Country has been through. The major hotels are opening their doors again, the “Service with the Sri Lankan Smile” is back, and it seems that anything is possible, when

this “water of gold”, in it’s dozens of varieties are readily available. 

     The following is an astounding list of “Whiskies” for all lovers of this particular alcoholic beverage.

Desmond Kelly.
   (Editor-in-Chief).   eLanka

GOLDEN WATER OF LIFE !! – Best selling Whisky ………..

🥃Glenfiddich is the world’s best-selling single malt

🥃Johnnie Walker Red Label is the world’s best-selling Scotch.

🥃The Famous Grouse is the best-selling whisky in Scotland

🥃Glenmorangie is the best-selling single malt in Scotland.

🥃The world’s fastest growing Scotch today is Black Dog. India is a major contributor to its sales.

🥃The five most popular single malts globally are  Glenfiddich, The Glenlivet, Glenmorangie Original, Aberlour and Laphroaig

🥃Bruichladdich’s The Octomore is the most heavily peated whisky in the world (167ppm)

🥃The three oldest single malts currently sold are Glenturret, Oban and Glenlivet

🥃The oldest distillery in Scotland is Glenturret (1775), followed by Bowmore (1779)

🥃With each bottle of Laphroaig that you buy, you are entitled to a lifetime lease of one sq foot of the distillery’s land, along with a personalized certificate of ownership

🥃Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop on Canongate, has a unique selling point: customers can have a bottle poured straight from a cask and labeled with their name. When sealed it has a label with the ‘born on date’, as whisky stops aging as soon as it leaves the wooden barrel, so each bottle is a unique blend.

🥃Edradour is the smallest distillery in Scotland. The entire operation is run by just three people

🥃The Glenmorangie distillery is one of the smallest in the Highlands and employs just sixteen craftsmen, called ‘The Sixteen Men of Tain’

🥃The most expensive country in which to buy Scotch, ironically, is  the UK, where it is made

🥃In the UK, its home country, the five most popular blended Scotch whiskies are The Famous Grouse, William Grant’s, Bell’s, Teacher’s and J&B Rare. Note: Johnnie Walker does not feature in the list of best-selling blends in its home country.

🥃A closed bottle of Scotch can be kept for 100 years and still be good to drink. After opening, a bottle of Scotch whisky will remain good for five years.

🥃The Australian Wine Research Institute has introduced a measure called a standard drink. In Australia, a standard drink contains 10 g (12.67 ml) of alcohol, the amount that an average adult male can metabolize in one hour.

🥃Although their proof differs, standard drinks of beer, wine and spirits contain the same amount of alcohol – 0.6 ounces each. They’re all the same to a breath analyser.

🥃18,000 litres of Scotch whisky worth over $800,000 were accidentally flushed down the drain at Chivas Brothers’ Dumbarton bottling plant in 2013.

🥃Experts advise you to drink single malt with just a dash of water. The water supposedly ‘releases the serpent’ from the whisky

🥃If there is a serpent, there is also an angel. As it ages, 2-2.5 % of the whisky maturing in a barrel is lost to evaporation every year. Distillers refer to this as the ‘angel’s share’.

🥃There is also a devil. The whisky absorbed by the wood of  barrel during maturation is known as the ‘devil’s cut’

🥃Indian ‘whisky’ is technically flavoured rum, because it’s essentially made from sugar

🥃General Knowledge for all the Whisky Lovers….