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| How Whisky Started. |
The local Scottish people would try to make use of any spare
barley they had by making it into the distillation we now know as whisky. Drunk
by both children and adults it was known as Uisge Beatha in gaelic (the water
of life). A sack of barley would have been soaked in the burn or well and then
thickly spread out to allow the damp seeds to germinate for 3 or more days
depending on the warmth of the weather. It would then be dried over a peat fire
to produce malted grains.
The grain would then be transferred to a suitable
vessel with some hot water and yeast to ferment. How long this would take was
again dependant on the temperature and the sugar content of the mash but once
the mixture had stopped bubbling it would be ready for distillation out of the
alcohol.The liquid would be put into a pot still and the liquor taken off in
stages
 as to quality.
The first
distillation is the foreshots, then the middle cut (the best bit), and lastly
the feints. No doubt nothing was wasted and the mash would be fed to the pig,
and other uses found for the fore and aftercuts. This process would go on in
most crofts.
A big tax was started in
1707 so there must have been quite a production going on to make it worthwhile
collecting. Smuggling grew rife.
With the Excise Act of 1823 legal
production increased and the branded production of whisky took off. |
Royal Brackla |
The Royal Brackla distillery near Cawdor produced the
favorite tipple of King George IV. It was shut down for a time but when it
reopened all the staff and the local dignitaries were invited, and each
received a 60-year-old bottle of Royal Brackla and a miniature too. One of the
lads, and not the only one, decided he would sell the bottle. So he got in
touch with the Managing Director of whisky merchant Gordon MacPhails in Elgin.
The manager duly said to come along to the premises the next Sunday (their only
day off work) and to bring the wife and children too, and he'd have a buyer for
him. When Sunday came they all sat down by the phone and spoke to a gentleman
from Italy. The Italian gentleman asked for a full description of the bottle,
colour, label etc of the dram in question; and being more than satisfied with
this description offered the family £1600 there and then for their
bottle. Which the family was happy to accept. Other tales were told of these
bottles exchanging hands for even more, but often the commission was also
considerably higher. Trade Secret: It's said that the men strip to their
underpants (or less?) to clean out the mash ready for the next batch due to the
heat and hard work involved. This was certainly the case at R.B. |
The life and times of a whisky smuggler. |
| In the 1800 my great, great grandfather MacBain lived on the
croft at Feabuie on Culloden Moor. He made whisky in a hide out on the Red Burn
(called this when it ran red for 3 days after the Battle of Culloden!). He
excavated a wee cave into a sandy bank of trees near the stream at the back of
the croft. It was propped up with poles. That was where he made illicit whisky.
He used a copper pot with a copper wire with 7 turns in it. With a peat fire
under the pot of mash it was just like boiling soup. The wire tube ran through
a barrel of cold water to help the distillation. The whisky ran out into an
earthenware flask. |
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Old MacBain got caught by the excise men
three times in his long career of making, transporting and selling whisky. What
happened the first time is lost to memory, but my father can tell you about the
other two: MacBain was taking the garrans (horses) through Drumochter down to
Alloa and took whisky with him to sell. In the lowlands they used a faster
method to make grain whisky and his old-fashioned slow type commanded a good
price. However, MacBain got caught by the excise men the day after he got to
Alloa, and they seized a flask of whisky as evidence. He was brought up before
the Sherrif the following day. The Sherrif asked the excise men for their
evidence, and they produced the flask. However, he said "Is that all? Anybody
is allowed by law to carry a flask of whisky. Do you not have any barrels or
kegs?" When the excise men said no, MacBain got off scot free. MacBain had gone
and sold the kegs and barrels of whisky to that same Sherrif as soon as he'd
arrived in Alloa. |
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The last time Old MacBain smuggled whisky
was the time he got caught and beaten-up by the excise men at the Dalcross
shabeen (illegal drinking house) only a few miles from his own croft. He was an
old man by that time and the threat of further beatings if he got raided and
caught scared him. He went out and pulled the roof down on his wee cave and the
bank of soil above covered it over. It still had earthenware jars of whisky in
it. When I was 7 or 8 years old (about 1932) I was at the croft with my Mum and
Dad for Christmas. Granny and Granda (MacBains daughter) came in and put a very
muddy earthenware jar with a wicker basket round it on the table. "This is the
last one." They said. They had dug up the last of Old MacBains whisky.
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Whisky |
| Never mind the marketing blurb. What do Scotsmen really have in
their drinks cabinets? Here's a sneaky look inside my good husband's cubby. 1.
Glenmorangie 10 yr The classic single malt from Tain. A favourite. 2. Glen
Grant 10yr From Rothes. Still unopened and probably not his own choice. 3.
Highland Park 12yr Hails from Orkney. Nearly empty. Definitely a good sign. 4.
Laphroaig 10yr 'Like a puff of smoke in your mouth', this Islay malt is a
special with Jock and Granda. 5. Glenfiddich 12yr The Dufftown best seller,
remains strangely full at 'Castle Ramsay'. 6. The Famous Grouse A blend, and a
great standby at a good price (always a consideration with a Scot.) 7.
Lagavulin 20yr King of the drinks cupboard. But the question is will he ever
open it? |
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