Highlights of Scotland

[Scottish Liqueurs]

[Dunkeld Altholl Brose] Dunkeld Atholl Brose

Dunkeld Atholl Brose is made by Gordon & MacPhail since 1895. The full address is:
      George House
      Boroughbriggs Road
      Elgin
      Moray,  IV30 1JY
      Scotland
      tel.: (+ 44 / 0)1343 545111
      fax: (+ 44 / 0)1343 540155
The motto on the bottle is:

Aye since he wore the tartan trews
He dearly lo'ed the Atholl Brose

Neil Gow

where 'trews' is Scottish for trousers (see below).
The back label -- under the title "The mystery of Scotland" ... try it! -- reads:

Dunkeld Atholl Brose is a Scotch Whisky Liqueur made to an ancient and secret recipe which contains certain herbs and uses only the finest 12 year old malt scotch whisky resulting in a smooth, delicious liqueur.

Atholl Brose is an extremely versatile liqueur, enjoy it straight, poured over crushed ice, with cream floated on top or with mixers - cola, tonic, ginger ale or soda - all the year round.

The box the bottle came in when I bought it explains the historic background as follows:
Late in 1475 a sentence of death and forfeiture was pronounced upon John, Lord of the Isles. The Earls of Atholl and Crawford were sent into the West with a fleet to enforce the sentence, and the rebellious Lord took to the hills.

The Earl of Atholl discovered where the fugitive was drawing his water, and ordered that the well be filled with a mixture of whisky, honey and oatmeal, so as to beguile him into staying put while he surrounded the place. Thus was Lord John captured, and thus came into being 'Atholl Brose'.

My Pocket Scottish Dictionary from Chambers (1995) has the following entries [with between square brackets the pronounciation]:
brose
1 a dish of oat- or pease-meal mixed with boiling water or milk, with salt and butter etc. added. 2 a meal of with brose was the chief ingredient; one's living, livelihood.
brosie 1 covered or fed with brose. 2 stout (with too much food or drink). 3 coarse, clumsy.
trews [trooze]
1 formerly close-fitting trousers made of fine, usually tartan cloth, with the legs extended to cover the feet, worn by Highlanders; later tartan trousers worn by certain Scottish regiments; short tartan trunks worn under a kilt. 2 ordinary trousers.
The now gone Liqueur page of "The Tryst" wrote:
It is reputed that Atholl Brose dates from 1475 when a mixture of whisky, oatmeal and honey was placed in a well to trap John, Lord of The Isles. Dunkeld Atholl Brose is a Scotch Whisky Liqueur made to an ancient and secret recipe, containing certain herbs and uses only the finest 12-year-old malt Scotch whisky resulting in a smooth, delicious liqueur.

Picture of the bottle:    JPEG-format (8.1 kb)   /   GIF-format (27.7 kb)

 
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last modified: 9 October 2011