What is Light Whisky From the December 9, 1963 New York Times April 5, 2022

Hey peeps, I recently reupped my subscription with the digital version of the New York Times thanks to a timely gift subscription (Thanks Deborah!!!)  As I am prone to do, I like to go back in time via the New York Times Times Machine and look for old beer and booze ads. For today's non beer post I went back to December 9, 1963 and came across two related ads that piqued my interest. Here are the two ads:

For more information on the William Lawson's Light Scotch Whisky and King's Ransom brands listings, you can check them out on the ScotchWhisky website.

What caught my eye was the term "Light Scotch Whisky" and I thought to myself "What exactly is Light Scotch Whisky." Down the rabbit hole I go.

Light whisky is a category of whisky born in the United States due to a couple of reasons. One was the rise in popularity of neutral grain spirits such as Vodka and Gin. Second was the fall in popularity of American whiskey and third was the inability of the American whiskey products being able to match cost and prestige with imported whiskys. Research showed that drinking patterns fell towards the lighter distilled spirits like Vodka and Gin and the lighter flavors of the imported scotch whiskys. So what was to be done about it? Government regulation.

According to the CFR: Title 27. Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms § 5.22 - The standards of identity:

“Light whisky” is whisky produced in the United States at more than 160° proof, on or after January 26, 1968, and stored in used or uncharred new oak containers; and also includes mixtures of such whiskies. If “light whisky” is mixed with less than 20 percent of straight whisky on a proof gallon basis, the mixture shall be designated “blended light whisky” (light whisky - a blend).

So what did this mean for the end result which hit the market in 1972. According to the article The Accidental Return of Light Whiskey by Aaron Goldfarb from Punch.com dated May 7, 2019:

By definition, light whiskey had to be distilled to at least 160 proof, though it was typically distilled as high as 190 proof, stripping it of its flavor until it closely resembled grain neutral spirit (GNS). (Bourbon, by contrast, usually enters the barrel in the 100- to 125-proof range and legally can never be distilled higher than 160.) Light whiskey would then be briefly aged in used barrels, typically bourbon barrels, which, having gone through the ringer a few times, were largely lacking in char flavor. These factors resulted in a mildly flavored, almost vodka-like whiskey. It failed to catch on as a standalone spirit and, for the last three decades, has been used as the cheaper, more neutral component of lighter American and Canadian blends.

To be honest, I had never heard about Light Whiskey but it seems to be that they were basically trying to make a whisky flavored vodka. This is rather ironic since the early advertisements for American made Smirnoff Vodka tried to pass it off as "white whiskey." It would be the inclusion of Smirnoff Vodka in the 1950s cocktail invention The Moscow Mule that would catapult Vodka's popularity in the decades that followed and helped bring down the popularity of American whiskey. I shed more light on this my post Ian Fleming's Dr. No (1962) dated January 16, 2014.

Not surprisingly the light whiskey category never really caught on and seemed to fade off into obscurity...until recently. High West Distillery of Utah has the High West 14-year Light Whiskey. Weaver’s Spirits of Colorado has their American Light Whiskey – Mount Massive Expression.
Whether or not the Light Whiskey category can catch on today or fade once again into obscurity remains to be seen. To read a more in depth article on light whiskey, I recommend you read Chuck Cowdery's article The Strange Story of How Light Whiskey Saved Bourbon dated August 5, 2015.

Ok, time to climb out of the rabbit hole. Any of you fine gals and guys try any version of the light whiskey on the market? Yay? Nay? Meh? What did you think? Drop me a line and let me know.

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking,

SiscoVanilla

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