Maut
- malt The basis of ale or whisky, hence the drink itself. Ebenezer Picken, in a poem of 1788, expresses the wish: Foul fa’ the chiel’ [bad luck to the fellow] wha thinks’t a faut [fault], To meddle wi’ the juice o’ maut and indeed there are times when a celebratory drink is in order, such as when the aptly named groanin maut, is brewed to celebrate a birth. Robert Burns knew all about this! In The Rantin Dog he writes O, wha will buy the groanin maut?. . . The rantin dog, the daddie o’t! No doubt there were a few mornings after when he would have been moved to agree with James Stewart’s request in his Sketches of Scottish Character (1857) Then awa wi’ your mautit potation, A waucht (draught) o’ pure water for me.