The novel is based on a true story: during WW2 a cargo ship ran aground off the coast of one of the Hebridean Islands, carrying tens of thousands of whisky intended for the US market. The locals set out to salvage as much of this precious cargo as they could, risking prosecution from Customs and Excise authorities. The whisky is enjoyed, the community comes together, the home guard escapes any reprimands, George Campbell braves his mother to inorm her of his marriage and life goes on idyllcally!

To the locals, beset by the privations of war and rationing, this was too good an opportunity to miss. Unofficial local ‘salvage parties’ began to form, with the men even donning their wives’ old dresses to prevent their own clothes becoming stained by incriminating ship’s oil. There followed a second, attempted, land-borne salvage operation, with the police raiding villages and crofts in an effort to recover the liquid cargo – and the locals secreting their ill-gotten gains wherever they could. Or else they just drank them. Unhappily the oil that moves the wheels on these islands has dried up. Put more literally the action takes place during World War 2 and whisky is rationed so that it can be sent abroad for trade. A limited supply of whisky is available, but now even that has run out. When the beer runs out too, an elderly resident leaves the bar in disgust, goes home, and dies immediately. That is how important whisky is. The story involves the grounding of a cargo ship, the SS Cabinet Minister, off the fictional island of Little Todday whilst carrying thousands of cases of whisky to America. The poor islanders had suffered the awful fate up to that point of being denied a dram due to wartime rationing so you can imagine the reaction to something like this falling into their laps (especially with such evocative names as Highland Gold, Highland Heart and Tartan Milk!) Martin-Jones, David (2010). Scotland: Global Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-8654-4.How much was taken by the sea, and how much fell prey to the impromptu salvage operations mounted by the locals of Eriskay, Barra, North and South Uist, and Lewis? An annual release, the Malt Whisky Yearbook is a must-have for any whisky professional or hobbyist. First launched in 2006, by Ingvar Ronde, this is a one stop shop for everything that’s going on in the industry. As well as information on distilleries, and of course, tasting notes, it also includes articles from distinguished names. If you want to feel up to date with everything that’s happening in whisky, then this is your go-to. Raw Spirit – Iain Banks Duguid, Mark (2013). "Whisky Galore! (1949)". Screenonline. British Film Institute . Retrieved 29 November 2016.

Barr, Charles (1977). Ealing Studios. Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7153-7420-7.

The Hebridean islands of Big and Little Todday (actually Eriskay) are out of whisky when the book begins. Life is hell. One of the islands’ oldest inhabitants dies for want of the stuff. Worse, there are two couples who desire (or are being talked into) marriage. These marriages cannot happen if whisky is not to be had. The two islands are in competition in various ways, including religion – Big Todday is Protestant of some sort (never specified?) and Little Todday is Catholic. Another book that’s as much about the journey as it is the destination. Whiskies Galore sees Ian Buxton explore Island distilleries, taking in Islay, Skye and the Orkneys. What’s great about this book, is that it isn’t just facts and tasting notes, it’s full of asides and opinion. As the author travels up the west coast, we hear his thoughts on everything from Arran to Talisker, but not just on the whisky – the people, the visitor centres and even a distillery’s standing in the industry all get assessed by Buxton. This is an entertaining read on one of the lesser written about regions of whisky.

The authorities, however, did not share this view, not least because the whisky was destined for the United States – and so no duty had been paid on it. This charming book first published in 1947 is a fictionalized version of an actual event that occurred off the Scottish island of Eriskay in 1941. During WW II and before the U S entered the war, Great Britain was in dire need of armaments which it could not produce for itself in sufficient quantities, nor could Britain pay for the armaments entirely in cash. The deal eventually brokered was that the U S would ship munitions in convoys of “Liberty Ships” to Britain. In return, Britain would pay for the munitions is cash AND whisky, this made whisky scarce in Scotland where it was – and is – a crucial component of Scottish island life from taking a few daily drams to high ceremonial occasions. Then things got considerably worse. As the winds drove SS Politician further off-course, at 7.40am a lookout glimpsed land; in desperation, the ship swung away, only to founder on the unseen sandbanks off Rosinish Point on the Isle of Eriskay. Chorge will neffer be having the courage to tell Mistress Campbell he's going to be married to her. Neffer!' he declared. 'Not unless he'd trunk a tram the size of Loch Sleeport itself, and then I believe it would turn to water inside his stamac when he saw his mother gazing at him.' "Religious conflicts play a small part here. One island is Protestant and the other Catholic. A Catholic matriarch is disapproving of Protestants, and almost everything else. The islanders take their religion seriously enough to reluctantly put off stealing the whisky on the Sabbath, but not to the tune of temperance. How these two men manage to clear the way to matrimonial bliss (Sergeant-Major Odd and Peggy's pre-wedding (or reiteach) and wedding play a big part in the latter part of the book, whilst George and Catriona's nuptials must wait a little bit longer) coupled with the ending of the dram drought on the islands of Little Todday, and its larger neighbour Great Todday, form a charming and gentle tale. Indeed the presence of whisky serves in two different ways to remove the relationship problems of two couples. A timid man is too scared to bring his fiancée home to meet his formidable mother, and an English officer cannot persuade his fiancée’s father to allow her to marry. Whisky solves both these problems, but in different ways. (It would be spoiling the book to say how.) People came from as far afield as Lewis and, according to reports at the time, few if any regarded what they were doing as stealing; the foundering of the ship made its cargo theirs to save under the ‘rules of salvage’. A poorly written book, though fun in a cosy sort of way. Wartime rationing creates a whisky drought on two neighbouring Hebridean islands during the early 1940s. The future matrimonial happiness of various parties is threatened, as is communal harmony, the morale of the local Home Guard and the authority and dignity of its commander. Fortuitously, the drought ends; some funny business ensues and all’s well that ends well. Wedding bells peal and the Catholic Church receives a new convert.

Murray describes Kailyard as "images of Scotland that portrayed it as parochial, cut off from the modern world, small-town, hapless lads, winsome lassies. They certainly weren't something you could recognise yourself in". [52]

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Rawlings, Roger (2017). Ripping England!: Postwar British Satire from Ealing to the Goons. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-6733-7. The SS Politician was carrying all manner of trade goods, from cotton to medicines to biscuits, but the ship is best remembered for the contents of Hold Number 5: some 264,000 bottles of Scotch whisky. A battle of wits ensues between Waggett, who wants to confiscate the salvaged cargo, and the islanders. Waggett brings in Macroon's old Customs and Excise nemesis, Mr Farquharson, and his men to search for the whisky. Forewarned, islanders manage to hide the bottles in ingenious places, including the ammunition cases that Waggett ships off the island. When the whisky is discovered in the cases, Waggett is recalled by his superiors on the mainland to explain himself, leaving the locals triumphant. We are introduced to a great cast of quirky characters on both islands with their side stories, including 2 "romances". And David Rintoul did full justice to the different voices and accents as well as to the Gaelic phrases (not that I am any expert on that!).