Whisky Magazine

Issue 70 of Whisky Magazine out now!

Issue 70 Out Now

Read - Buy - Subscribe

Quick Links

Buy back issues
Cocktails
Distilleries
Find a whisky
Forums and chat
Independent bottlers
Magazine archive
News
Nosing & Tasting Course
Subscribe
Tasting notes
Whisky and food
Whisky Glossary



Search

Join Whiskymag.com Now
MAGAZINE
SUBSCRIBE
STORE
FEATURES
WHISKIES
DIRECTORY
FORUMS
This Issue (70)  |  Subscribe  |  Back Issues  |  Authors Index  |  Category Index
Authors Index   |  Ian Mitchell

Articles by Ian Mitchell

The deil's awa wi th' exciseman

Gaugers were the hated excisemen who hounded whisky smugglers in the 18th and early 19th century. And Malcolm Gillespie was one of the most wretched and tragic of all. Ian R Mitchell tells his story

The exciseman, or gauger as he was known in the Scots vernacular, was probably the most hated figure in Scotland 200 years ago. This dislike was given a humorous slant in our national bard Robert Burns’ poem, The Exciseman. Here the despised figure is carried off to Hell by the Devil (Auld Mahoun), ...

Whisky history from Issue 56 published on 01/06/2006

Having the last laugh

Ian R Mitchell tells the story of the Macraes of Monar, illicit whisky distillers

Though doubtless the odd small scale still might yet be found in remote areas of the West Highlands, the last illicit distiller on a scale large enough to provide his main income must have been Hamish Dhubh Macrae of Monar, who retired from his calling a century ago. He and his father had outwitted...

Whisky History from Issue 49 published on 15/07/2005