In The Begining

Ya know it’s an endless battle as to just who first started distilling whisky. Was it the bloody Irish or the great Scots? No, I don’t pretend to be an historian on the subject and I sure as hell have no intentions of starting a big debate on the matter so I’ll tell ya this: Scotch “the life blood of Scots” is more than just a distilled beverage in as much as acquavitae, “the water of life” is more than just a drink.

The first reference to distillation in Scotland is the purchase of malt by friar John Cor, of Dunfermline, to make “acquavitae” in the year 1494. Now this friar had something up his sleeve at the time of his purchase, but I’d be doubting that he new what he was going to do. Oh he knew what he was going to make but he didn’t know that he was going make history and that his purchase receipt would to this day be the counting mark of the worlds greatest spirit.

The Gaelic term for aquavitae was uisge-beatha and as the years passed the pronunciation became “usky” and thus “whisky”. As the popularity of this “medicine” gained throughout the Scottish lands many a crofter began distilling “usky” to supplement his meager income from tilling his landlords’ dry, craggy soil he referred to as a farm.

During the long winters this distilled spirit became almost priceless, as the otherwise useless barley would have become nothing but rotting waste. As this practice grew throughout the highlands, the landlords began to encourage its production and as usual, the government realized this great potential for taxation. As taxation rose so did smuggling, and so in turn the government took a more serious stand, soon bounty hunters were seeking out distillers and smugglers alike in a bloody battle for control.

Lives were lost on both sides as the government implemented new laws that would see the landowners held responsible for illegal stills set up on their properties. The battles seemed to have a comical wit to them as the excisemen and their counterparts tried to outwit each other. The tales are as grand as any tale can be. One can imagine the remoteness out the countryside yet to the excisemen it was not remote enough; the illicit stills were moved into caves and forsaken glens. Whisky barrels were transported in the dead of night lashed to donkeys.

The ingenuity of the distillers knew no bounds as one distiller it is told, ran a flue underground for over ½ a mile from the cave hiding his still to the chimney in his cabin. The news of a distillery in Orkney reached the authorities, the news of the impending raid reached the operator, one Reverend Magnus Eunson. As the raid approached they stood up three barrels, covered them with linen and placed a coffin atop, called in some “mourners” and the funeral was in full swing as the excisemen arrived. Of course they quickly left upon hearing from one of the “mourners” the deceased passed on due to small pox. Decoy convoys were common, the decoys would run to the hills and fight it out only to be caught and in the ensuing “battle” the real loads pass through untouched. As more and more distillers turned legit, the outlaw distillers tried to destroy the new legitimate distilleries.

These conflicts continued until the 1820s, when the government passed the Excise Act of 1823 and the repeal of the Corn Laws in the 1840s. The repeal of the Corn Law dropped the taxation on cereal crops and freed the importing of barley and other grains from foreign countries. These new laws sparked the emergence of a new industry as the new laws and lighter taxation to make it more lucrative to turn legitimate. It was like a gold rush as hundreds of companies were formed many, only to fold years later. Among the survivors was Johnny Walker, who ran a general store and blended his own malts and as we all know, his company - although no longer owned by his descendents - still does.

Many of the large distilleries in the lowlands were owned by the Haig and Stein dynasties and were some of the earliest bulk distillers. We are still witness to the yearly closures of these great institutions. As we look at availability of whisky on shelves we are at times unaware that what we see is the last of the stocks of a particular bottling.

There are many distilleries that have closed or become “silent” yet the vast stocks are still bottled, when the stocks are gone so is the brand. Our children will not see many of the whiskies found in this book, when they are of age to sample Scotland’s gift to the world.