Iain Banks FAQ - Those Mastermind questions I
Iain Banks was the winner of Celebrity Mastermind (BBC1, Christmas 2005).
Malt Whisky and the distilleries of Scotland
Q. Which distillery that features a stag's head on its label has a name populary supposed to derive from the Gaelic for valley of the deer?
A. Benriach (wrong - Glenfiddich)
Q. From 1916 the government insisted that Scotch whisky should be aged
in casks for how many years?
A. Three years (correct)
Q. Which distillery has styills with very long necks that, at a height of 5.13 metres, claim to be the tallest in Scotland?
A. Glenmorangie (correct)
Q. Who was the first person to take out a licence under the Excise Act of 1823, setting up a distillery at his farm in Glenlivit?
A. William Grant (incorrect - George Smith)
Q. The amount of which aromatic component in whiksy determines the 'peatiness' of its flavour?
A. Phenolic compound (correct)
Q. What is the technical name for malts from more than one distillery that have been blended together?
A. Vatted (correct)
Q. Which distillery in Wick is the most northerly in mainland Scotland?
A. Old Pulteney
Q. The name of which Islay whisky is translated from the Gaelic as 'the beautiful hollow by the broad bay'?
A. Bunnahabhain (incorrect - Laphroaig)
Q. Who wrote in his poem 'The Scotsmans' Return from Abroad', "The king o' drams as I conceive it / Talisker, Islay or Glenlivet"?
A. Robert Burns (incorrect - Robert Louis Stevenson)
Q. Which distillery that at 326m above sea level claims to be the highest and also serves as a weather station?
A. Dalwhinnie
Q. Which artist designed the labels for the release of twelve bottles of The Macallan 60 year old, each bottle containing spirit that was distilled in 1926 and bottled in 1986?
A. Alister Grey (incorrect - Peter Blake)
Q. In the distillation process what name is given to the central part of the spirit run during which spirit is produced and collected?
A. The middle cut (correct)
Q. Which distillery did Long John Macdonald, the descendent of the chiefs of the Clan Donald, found in 1825?
A. Ben Nevis
Q. The wood of which species of oak is first used to store bourbon and then imported to Scotland to make Scotch whisky casks?
A. Quercus alba (correct)
Q. What name is given to the whisky lost in evaporation as it matures in the cask?
A. The angel's share (correct)
Q. Which became the first Scottish distillery to be wholly owned by a Japanese company when Takara Shuzo and Okura bought it in 1986?
A. Tomatin (correct)
Q. On which island did malt whisky production recommence after an interval of some 150 years when a new distillery was opened in 1995?
A. Arran (correct)
12 points, no passes, 17 questions.