Stand by your Dram

When I was five years high, and my eyeswere level with table tops, I could stand unnoticed at weddingsand other 'dos' watching adults play. I didn't think they werevery good at it. They did not kick a ball around or pretend to becowboys and Indians. They stood chatting, laughing and sippingdrinks. There were things, however, a child could learn fromobserving that last activity. For adults are always passingmessages on to their children even when they consider they have,for the moment, knocked off from all parental duties.

At those traditional gatherings, when the drinks tray wasoffered round, it was expected of men that they should reach fora glass of whisky. It was never, however, expected of women thatthey should do so too. Oh no. If a woman did that, there was fromthe presenter of the tray, and the gathered guests observing thechoice, a certain unspoken disapproval. The sort of disapproval -a tightening of the lips, a stiffening of the shoulders, araising of the eyebrows - that children are totally in tune to.The sort of disapproval, in fact, children spend a great deal oftheir time with adults watching for. Children are very keen onapproval.

It entered my psyche and probably the psyches of a lot offemales who would have grown up to enjoy their national drink,that whisky was not the sort of thing women drank. Awhisky-drinking woman was not one of the ladies. And it was plainto see she was not one of the chaps either.

It is, perhaps, from those tiny observations that manyScottish women do not share the passion Scottish men have for aglass or three of malt, and have instead pledged their palates todrinks from other countries; tequila, vodka, Bacardi and gin.Indeed, the manufacturers of these drinks have for years keenlypursued women by advertising in up-market women's magazines,whilst it is only recently that the whisky industry has startedto target them as potential customers. Strange that, when youconsider how many discerning women there are out there who shopwith confidence for food, wine, cars and mortgages.

When women drink whisky, they do it for the same obviousreason men do - they like it. So it's interesting to explore themental distillations that go in to women's decision not to drinkit.

Certainly, the Society has women members all of whom areenthusiastic and articulate on the subject of whisky. But theones I spoke to agree that there is a bias against women drinkingthe malt. Interestingly, for many it was at a wedding that theyhad a seminal experience of malt. Beverley Brady distinctlyremembers going to weddings and being urged by her mother to givemoral support against the tide of small tuts and disapprovingbody movements by joining her taking whisky to toast the brideand groom.

The bias, though, extends to all drinking outlets. HelenSanderson said that men in bars regard it as unusual that sheshould ask for a specific malt. "In fact whenever I'm in abar, and order a malt it is assumed by the barman that I've beensent by a partner or husband."

Whilst Helen Young agrees with this, she thinks attitudes todrinking have changed. It is only in the past decade or so thatwomen have felt comfortable going into pubs alone. They were, andto some extent still are, men's territory. And so was a deal ofwhat was consumed within them.

Helen Young recalls - not without a drop of rancour - that onefirm she worked for gave out a bonus bottle of whisky everyChristmas to its male employees. She, the only woman, got abottle of sweet sherry. An insulting error of judgement she wasswift to sort out.

No matter how women with a taste for the malt are regarded inthis country, in America and France, they are regarded as chic.Of course, whisky is worth more than the superficial gloss ofbeing a trendy drink. But it would be foolish to ignore thesocial boost a knowledge of the malt can bring. After applyingsuccessfully for a job, Beverley Brady was asked why she hadn'tmentioned her Society membership, and knowledge of malts, in herCV. It simply hadn't occurred to her how much kudos it might addto her image. We have become extremely image conscious. Knowingjudgements are being made, we choose with care how we look, whatwe drive and what we drink. Could it be that the subliminalsignals a woman might give out when drinking whisky do not matchthose she has of herself as decision maker, mover, shaker, evenmother? And indeed, the fundamental image she has of herself as awoman.

A man, however with a glass of malt in front of him suffers noself doubts at all. Whisky is one the boy's toys. Obviously it'stime for women to change all that. At weddings and other dos theyshould, as a bid for freedom, you understand, always reach forthe whisky. They should drink with unabashed enjoyment. Theremight just be an observer, five years high, eyes level with tabletops, with a psyche open to important messages about what she'lldrink when she grows up.

Isla Dewar

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