图书序言
【酒厂逸闻轶事】老板来了,别再偷喝威士忌!!
[ A Distillery Anecdote ] The Boss is Coming: Stop Stealing the Whisky!!
百富台湾品牌大使 沈宇轩 The Balvenie Brand Ambassador in Taiwan Daniel Shen
在2017年春天,我拜师学艺花了三个月的时间,在台湾学习以手工打造了这个黄铜色的取酒器,一方面为了要深刻体验手工的困难与复杂度,另一方面也是纪念威士忌酒厂一个有趣历史。在一百多年前,在苏格兰酒厂工作的工人们,忍受不了生命之水美味的诱惑,拜託制造蒸馏器的铜匠,用红铜及黄铜做了一根管子,投入橡木桶中即可取出威士忌,这个取酒的道具被称为dipping dog 或是copper dog。
管状的造型方便工人们藏在衣裤里,将威士忌带回家里偷偷享用。据说一百多年前,创办人威廉格兰每天巡视他的酒厂时,总是大声地吹着口哨或沿路用力敲打酒窖的门板。原来老威廉是个很贴心的老板,他的口哨声是为了要警告他的员工们:「老板来了,别再偷喝桶子里的威士忌!」
Back in the spring of 2017, I spent three months taking up an apprenticeship in Taiwan where I learned how to handcraft this brass-coloured instrument: dipping dog. Firstly, I wanted to experience in-depth the difficulty and complexity that comes with handcrafting. I also wanted to honor an interesting part of the distillery’s history. Even for Scottish distillery workers more than a hundred years ago, the temptation of the water of life was something hard to resist. They asked the coppersmiths who made the stills to fashion a tube made of copper and brass. Once dipped into a cask, this copper tool was able to extract whisky. This extraction tool is called a dipping dog or copper dog.
Its tube-like shape made it easy for workers to conceal it inside their trouser legs. They would then sneak whisky home and enjoy it by stealth. It is said that more a hundred years ago, William Grant the founder would whistle loudly or knock on the cellar’s door when he was inspecting his distillery during his daily patrol. It turns out old William was a very attentive boss. His whistling was meant to warn his employees: “the boss’s comin’: stop stealing whisky from the casks!”