Self-styled whisky purists will usually scoff at the idea of Scotch being enjoyed any other way than straight. While practises such as food matching or whisky cocktails are a potential gateway for newcomers to enjoy the often niche and inaccessible world of whisky, there will always be those who view this as a betrayal of the traditional ways of whisky drinking. For some, anything other than neat is a wild waste.
However, there is one whisky pairing that doesn’t receive this negative attention from the pedants: the hauf n’ hauf.
Simply uttering these words to any Scot will likely bring to mind images of old men in smokey pubs, slowly sipping and savouring their drinks, minding their own business, eyes buried in a newspaper. There’s a romantic reverence to the hauf and hauf. It’s a national institution, but it’s practically unheard of outside Scotland. So what is it?
The hauf and hauf is a specific drinks order with its name rooted in history. Its name is Scots for half and half, and refers to a half pint of beer and a small Scotch. Pints are still the standard beer measurement in the UK today, but before the 25 or 35ml drams we’re now familiar with, spirits were measured in gills. In Scotland the typical measurement was a quarter gill (approx 35ml), so a hauf would have been half that.
There may be some reading this who are huffing and puffing that the hauf and hauf is just a jumped up Boilermaker, but they’d be wrong. The Boilermaker generally serves as a shortcut to a slightly drunken buzz. When drinking a Boilermaker, or one of the many other similar beer and spirit mixes around the world, the whisky is either dropped into the beer, or whisky is shot and the beer serves as a chaser to wash away the taste of the spirit.
By contrast, the hauf and hauf is a much slower experience. The whisky and the beer are consumed in tandem, but they’re not mixed. It’s a patient combination, designed to be savoured, the flavours often complimenting each other - two halves creating something whole.
With this in mind, it’s not surprising that the hauf and hauf appears to be growing in popularity with a new generation of drinkers. Many trendy bars hold beer and whisky pairing events, while a recent festival held at the Holyrood distillery in Edinburgh celebrated local craft breweries and independent distilleries, offered a half pint and a dram as part of the ticket price.
In recent years craft beer has continued to grow in popularity and there’s always an abundance of new, exciting beers popping up in bars, supermarkets and specialist offies. Similarly, whisky drinkers can enjoy a seemingly never-ending parade of bottles from new distilleries or fresh releases from old favourites.
There’s a synergy that exists between beer and whisky. There are similarities in the early stages of their production processes, which both start with the mashing and fermentation of grains. Anyone who has visited a whisky distillery will doubtlessly have heard wort referred to as ‘a type of beer’, which in a way is true. It’s a natural chemistry recognised within both industries, with some high profile distilleries utilising beer casks to mature their whisky, and vice versa.
So next time you want to enjoy a dram, maybe give some thought to treating yourself to a beer as well. Whether you go traditional with a lager and a blend or if you want to mix it up with your favourite imperial stout and single cask Scotch, take some time to honour the humble hauf and hauf. At the end of the day, there’s no ‘right’ way to enjoy anything, and you might just discover your new favourite drinks order.