There’s no footnote explaining why, I’ve never really heard of this before. The only explanation I can think of is that wiki may just be counting the number of distilleries in the north.

by do_not_scare_me

33 comments

  1. I mean its definitely not rum or brandy, and seemingly the only people that drink vodka en masse are students. What other mainline spirits are there?

  2. Welsh whisky? Not that it doesn’t exist but is that really top of the charts in Wales?

  3. I can’t give an actual awnser but it *feels* true. Not to say people in the south don’t like whisky, but again gin feels right for them too.

  4. In terms of drinking it probably is. Whisky chaser was a very common order in the not to distant past. Gin has become more popular in recent years, but wasn’t really drank in the north until then.

    In terms of production, the north doesn’t really produce any spirits.

  6. I feel like people are misunderstanding what ‘national’ means. It doesn’t mean it’s the most popular thing, it means it’s one that was decided represents the country. Much like leeks and daffodils for Wales – it doesn’t mean that Wales is known for growing them, they’re national symbols, things that have become associated with those countries.

    However, national associations are often also popular things in the country (which goes against what I said), and generally unique to it.

  7. Looking at the history of the wiki page, the first entry says it is an Arbitrary List. So it is because someone made it up.

  9. I think classically gin was mainly a London and SE thing. The more up north you got the more whisky you encountered because of proximity to Scotland, and Irish influx from Liverpool port.

  10. So many people in Scotland drink whisky that they spill over into Northern England. Especially when they’ve had a few.

  11. It’s probably the most popular spirit in the north of England once you exit the student realm of Vodka + Coke and Tequila shots, and consider the whole population. I have many family members and friends that keep bottles of Scotch in the house, and it is very common to see it consumed in pubs, either neat, on the rocks or as a chaser. Scotch Whisky, Irish Whiskey and Vodka seem to be the top 3 most popular from my experience.

  12. National symbols are rarely representative of what you’re likely to see in a given place. I have a tattoo of a mockingbird to represent Texas, but I wouldn’t exactly wake up in Texas, see a mockingbird, and think “ah, yes, this is clearly Texas” XD

  13. I feel like it’s more gin in the summer whisky in the winter. Maybe it’s just cause it’s a bit cold up north. Not sure if they have summer?

  14. Northumberland, particularly Coquetdale, has a long history with Whisky and illegal stills. So it’s likely to be more popular up there than Gin.

  17. what is Manx Spirit? sounds like something made in a bath tub

    fun fact: gin was originally brought from the Netherlands and subsequently gin drinking was adopted as a show of loyalty towards the new king William of Orange (who was also Dutch). Producing it was given preferential tax rates so it became widely available and cheap. There’s a great episode of In Our Time covering all of this.

  18. Pedantically, Isle of Man isn’t in the UK. Thank you.

  19. Seems like a whole list of things to flag with “citation needed”, or raise concerns over.

    edit: Be the change you want to see. I recovered my Wikipedia account and shoved a citation needed tag against each of them.

  20. It used to say smack for Scotland, but Whiskey slightly edged it out this year

  21. I’ve never heard of Welsh whisky. Wikipedia says between 1900 and 1990, there were no Welsh whiskies. So I’m inclined to believe it’s not really a part of their national identity.

  22. Tbh national drink of England should be cider. Scotland obviously whisky, Irish should be beer, Welsh should be cider as well.

    Doesn’t matter to me what the list says.

  23. Possibly because the North has a lot of working class, who traditionally have mixed a lot with the Scots and Irish, both of which enjoy a tipple on occasion? <3

  24. Whiskey distilling was wider spread in Wales there was a push by the church to close them down. Some emigrated to America to continue distilling, such as the whiskey now known as Southern Comfort was originally distilled in Wales.

  25. And everyone know the national drink of Scotland is Irn Bru

  26. Is Manx Spirit just the sweat that drains off the riders in the TT?

  28. Welsh whisky my arse. We almost all drink lager or cider

  29. The Isle of Man isn’t even in the United Kingdom, so that’s about how accurate this list is. Also Manx Spirit is just redistilled Scottish whiskey.

  30. “North” according to your average southerner is anything further up than Luton but that’s fine, at least we have the sense to actually admit that gin is absolute filth.

  31. I live in the southeast of England, and have not seen anyone drink gin since the 1970’s when the oldsters back then used to have it at Christmas time, along with double diamond beer, skol lager, and blue nun wine…

  32. Isle of Man checking in here…. We actually have an award winning Manx Whisky.
    (Manx Whisky Co)
    Manx Spirit was popular some years ago but nobody here drinks it.

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