Abstract
In this chapter, I examine the articulation of Scottish traditions as a medium for the production, marketing, and consumption of Scotch single malt whisky. While on the surface they may seem quite separate, my goal is to link up nationhood, geography, tourism, and industrial production through the interests of contemporary market capitalism. I am particularly interested in how “traditions” or “history” regarding “Scotch” unfold at drinks corporations in relation to inherent tensions between local activities and the global political economy into which they place their products. The chapter is based empirically on long-term, if periodic, fieldwork in Scotland, with visits to Scottish whisky distilleries and their local communities. Here I particularly emphasize the whisky industry on the beautiful island of Islay, in the Inner Hebrides, home to eight distilleries that, between them, arguably produce the greatest Scotch whiskies in the world.
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Notes
- 1.
The most celebrated chapter in Hobsbaum and Ranger’s edited volume is Trevor-Roper’s (1983) unpacking of Scottish nationalism itself. His “The invention of tradition : The Highland tradition of Scotland ” specifically discusses early industrial era (late eighteenth and early nineteenth century) lowland Scot co-optation of the tartans and the lore of colorful Highland tribes who, in previous centuries, they had subjugated. The relationship of (historic) Scottish Romanticism with the contemporary Scotch whisky industry, as well as Scottish tourism generally, is obvious.
- 2.
- 3.
In principle, should the bottling process be somehow flawed, or the bottle be poorly sealed, such that oxygen is in contact with the whisky, the whisky will of course change flavor. Unlike wine , however, I have never heard anyone claim that a bottle of whisky was “corked,” where oxygen has come into contact with a bottled wine over an extended period of time, thus making it unpleasant, at best, to drink. Corked wine is usually discarded.
- 4.
Investors in the Scotch whisky industry may also purchase the warehouses containing aging casks from distilleries that are no longer in production.
- 5.
The marketing impact of Ford’s purchase of Land Rover (from BMW), in 2000, was similarly low-key. (In 2008, Ford sold Jaguar/Land Rover to Tata, a huge Mumbai-based conglomerate.) Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce and Bentley, iconic British high-end brands, are owned, respectively, by BMW and Volkswagen. While, especially in the West, given complex shareholding arrangements, the nationality of large, “global” corporations is often very difficult to pin down, in fact there are no “British” automobile brands that are majority-owned by British persons or corporations, including in the high-end sports car market, e.g., Aston Martin, McLaren, etc. Significant automobile production in the UK does, however, remain.
- 6.
With little regard for tax authorities, “kitchen” or “bath” stills throughout the world have, across time, always provided for local, usually unrefined, alcoholic imbibement.
- 7.
Diluted with water when bottled, whiskies are normally sold at 40–47% alcohol.
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Sedgwick, M.W. (2019). Islay, a Very Tasty Idea: Inventing, Embedding, and Selling Tradition in the Contemporary Scotch Whisky Industry. In: Nakamaki, H., Hioki, K., Sumihara, N., Mitsui, I. (eds) Enterprise as a Carrier of Culture. Translational Systems Sciences, vol 16. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7193-6_9
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