The Tartan Army is “the nickname for the devoted fans of Scotland’s national football (“soccer” in the United States) team.”

http://www.ehow.com/how_5130446_join-tartan-army.html

“In a way this is not much different than the “Boycott Scotland” campaign that some Americans started after the recent Diageo news.”

Diageo’s news might have come around the same time, but “Boycott Scotland” had nothing to do with whisky. The names Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, Lockerbie, and Pan Am 103 ring a bell?

This hullabaloo, on the other hand, seems to be about national pride partly based on history. I could envision some journalist writing a similar story from a Kentucky or Tennessee vantage when a ‘northern’ whiskey hit the shelves there.

As our world becomes more and more integrated and homogenized, I for one appreciate hearing about national pride.

My father’s family came to America from Kent even earlier and I’m sure they would have stayed if English whisky had been available.

As it turns out, both sides eventually wound up in Kentucky and starting drinking corn-based liquor, a tradition I happily follow to this day.

I have smatterings of Irish, Welsh, French, German, and I’m sure a good bit more running through my veins. So, as a Scots-Irish-Welsh-English-etc. American I’m torn by ancient voices vying for my loyalty. I’m not sure if I should feel a sense of betrayal or a sense of victory at this new English push north. Culloden, Bannockburn, and now Royal Mile Whiskies.

Given my inner conflict, I’ve decided to remain completely neutral until I can taste this new offering myself and ignore those inner voices (and probably stop telling people I hear voices lest they think I’m just plain nuts). I can’t understand the ones speaking Gaelic anyway. I believe, however, I will judge on the merits of the whisky itself and not its genealogy.

In these new Whisky Wars, maybe I should be more upset with the Canadians for filling a vacuum during Prohibition, one that pretty much killed rye until recent years, but I just can’t quite work myself up for it. Instead I think I’ll direct my attention to other matters, such as the economy, two wars, and my elderly mother’s health care options. The little things in life.

On a more serious note, I applaud Royal Mile Whiskies and this new expansion of their inventory. Give people a choice to buy what they like no matter where it’s produced (and this also goes for the PLCB, various state legislatures, and others). Sounds almost…Revolutionary.

Unfortunately these idiots don’t just dislike the idea of English whisky. I had a really obnoxious poster on my blog when i dared to publish a good review of a Japanese whisky. Thankfully he got slapped down by a chorus of disapproval:

http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2009/05/tasting-notes-suntory-hibiki-12-years-old/

The English did have their hand in a whole lot of the Scottish Whisky Law for quite some time. I guess for some, this is still a sore spot.

To quote Bob Dylan: “Times, they are a Changin”

Sometimes, ya gotta let the past sleep.

Brian47126

No… just the English.