Guest Post: How whisky became the Gilded Age’s favourite spirit

...and which heiresses sipped it

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This week’s Thursday post is a guest post! Shelly and I have exchanged articles this week, so you’ll find the one that I wrote over on her Substack: Whisky Scholar. Not only is Shelly my assistant, helping with research, outreach, and community management over on my Patreon, but she’s also a historian! While her academic background is a PhD in Medieval and Early Modern history, she’s very into the scholarship of whisky. So, we hope you’ll enjoy this article she wrote about whisky in the Gilded Age!

And you can read the article that I wrote for her (‘The Top 7 Whiskies of the Gilded Age’), by clicking this button:

Julie Xx

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Tartan Tipples:
How whisky became the Gilded Age’s favourite spirit

In the flickering candlelight of London’s most exclusive gentlemen’s clubs and the mahogany-panelled bars of New York’s Fifth Avenue, one spirit was steadily rising in status…and it would soon eclipse all others as the ultimate marker of wealth and refinement during the luxury-obsessed Gilded Age: whisky.

But not just any whisky. No, it was smooth, blended Scotch varieties that rose supreme, served in elegant cut-glass tumblers to dukes, tycoons, and daring debutantes alike.

From the rolling hills of the Highlands to the sideboards of High Society, whisky’s journey through the late 19th century is a tale of innovation, empire, and impeccable branding. No longer the fiery local spirit of Scottish crofters, whisky became a global status symbol.

But how exactly did a humble dram of Scotch come to rival the Champagne flute and the sherry glass? Well, I’ll tell you…