Use Kosar, printed pp. 39–40 / PDF sheets 41–42. Prefer the Scottish Exchequer record itself for extended quotation.
The 1494 Scottish Exchequer entry for malt supplied to Friar John Cor to make aquavitae is strong surviving documentary evidence of whiskey-making, but it does not prove that whiskey was invented in Scotland in 1494.
Locator, printed pages, PDF sheets, source metadata, and paraphrase were previously verified.
Use “earliest known” or “earliest irrefutable documentary evidence” with attribution. Do not convert a surviving record into an invention claim.
The record is a dated documentary anchor. Its survival establishes evidence at that date, not the unknown place or moment when whiskey production began.
Used and link-verified on the public history page “Before American Whiskey — Fermentation, Distillation, and Transatlantic Knowledge” on 2026-09-02. Retain the recorded qualifications in future revisions.
Claim
The 1494 Scottish Exchequer entry is a documentary milestone, not a whiskey invention certificate.
Evidence judgment
Kosar identifies the surviving entry as strong dated evidence for malt supplied to make aquavitae while explicitly separating the record from the unknowable earlier history of production.
Boundary
The event documents what the record says. It cannot establish that no whiskey was made elsewhere or earlier.
Drafting guardrail
Write “earliest known documentary evidence” and avoid “Scotland invented whiskey in 1494.”
Readiness decision
Ready for Drafting with Moderate evidence and High confidence.