Editing Whisky (section)

=== 19th century ===

[[File:Erskine Nicol, A Nip against the Cold (1869).jpg|thumb|right|upright|A man pours some whisky into a flask in this 1869 oil painting by Scottish artist [[Erskine Nicol]].]]

The drinking of Scotch whisky was introduced to India in the nineteenth century. The first distillery in India was built by Edward Dyer at [[Kasauli]] in the late 1820s. The operation was soon shifted to nearby [[Solan]] (close to the British [[summer capital]] [[Shimla]]), as there was an abundant supply of fresh spring water there.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Harrison|first=Joel|date=2011-12-29|title=Whisky in India|url=https://www.livemint.com/Companies/ny0g0a6Vo9Xz7DlB2TGcYI/Whisky-in-India.html|access-date=2022-12-29|website=mint|language=en}}</ref>

In 1823, the UK passed the Excise Act, legalizing distillation (for a fee), and this put a practical end to the large-scale production of Scottish moonshine.<ref name="dotcom" />

In 1831, [[Aeneas Coffey]] patented the [[column still|Coffey still]], allowing for a cheaper and more efficient distillation of whisky. In 1850, Andrew Usher began producing a [[blended whisky]] that mixed traditional [[pot still]] whisky with that from the new Coffey still. The new distillation method was scoffed at by some Irish distillers, who clung to their traditional [[pot still]]s. Many Irish contended that the new product was, in fact, not whisky at all.<ref name="Irish 1000">{{Cite book |last=Magee |first=Malachy |title=Irish Whiskey – A 1000 year tradition |publisher=[[O'Brien press]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-86278-228-3 |page=144}}</ref>

By the 1880s, the French [[brandy]] industry was devastated by the [[phylloxera]] pest that ruined much of the grape crop; as a result, whisky became the primary liquor in many markets.<ref name="dotcom" />