Ian R Mitchell tells some tales of the Donside illicit whiskymakers.
Speyside whisky is world-renowned.
And everyone has heard of the Royal Lochnagar distillery on Deeside. But between these two major rivers of North East Scotland lies a more modest watercourse, the River Don. The Don no longer produces whisky, but it once did. The fertile reaches of Upper Donside (...
By Ian R Mitchell
from Issue 65 published on 20/07/2007
Robin Laing delves in to the historical connections between the country’s saints and the water of life
Religion and strong drink do not usually seem to mix but having found a number of connections between whisky-making and Scottish holy men I wondered if men of God have always looked at distilling with a disapproving eye.
For example, is there a patron saint of distillers? I checked the Internet and...
By Robin Laing
from Issue 60 published on 10/11/2006
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), ...
By Ian Mitchell
from Issue 56 published on 01/06/2006
With Glen Grant up for sale it’s timely to look at the man behind the distillery. Iain Russell reports
Major James Grant was the archetypal Victorian laird. Short in stature and stocky of build, he dressed for most occasions in his Grant tartan kilt and Glengarry bonnet.
He spent long hours fishing on the River Spey or bagging grouse on a Highland moor, and he travelled half way round the world to h...
By Iain Russell
from Issue 53 published on 12/01/2006
The recent Pernod Ricard-Allied deal reunited two great whisky names. But they were linked once before by whisky entrepreneur Jimmy Barclay. Iain Russell reports
Pernod Ricard’s acquisition of Allied Domecq will bring together two of the great names in the whisky world, in the form of their subsidiaries Chivas Brothers and George Ballantine & Son.
But the connection between the two goes back to the 1920s and involves the legendary whisky wheeler-dealer Jimm...
By Iain Russell
from Issue 52 published on 30/11/2005
The Pattison brothers could have taught media guru Max Clifford a thing or two about promotion.They even used parrots to promote their whisky. Ian Buxton reports
Every age has its ‘bubbles’ and every age seems determined to repeat the mistakes of the last. Think of the South Sea Bubble; of Victorian railway bonds; of the mania for tulips that possessed Holland in the 17th century; of the dotcom boom.
Then, think whisky. Yes, whisky had its own period of fin...
By Ian Buxton
from Issue 52 published on 30/11/2005
Tynron is a sleepy Scottish town and it once had its own whisky. Dave McFadzean goes in search of this unusual blend
It is almost two decades since I first heard tales of the whisky making that once took place in the sleepy hamlet of Tynron.
Some older folk could remember the hard stuff being produced and consumed around Tynron and who actually produced it.
However it remained an elusive mystery whether this bus...
By Dave McFadzean
from Issue 52 published on 30/11/2005
A book on the great Glasgow whisky scandal of 1872 is set to be republished.According to Ian Buxton,it makes essential reading
Ah, the good old days. Whisky just a few pennies a glass; hundreds of independent companies competing for our business; distilleries now lost in the mists of time sending forth their wonderful drams. On every street corner a Dickensian pub stands ready for our business, the ruddy-faced landlord disp...
By Ian Buxton
from Issue 51 published on 07/10/2005
Leon Schoyan’s whisky find was every diver’s dream. Jim Leggett reports on how Prohibition era Scotch found its way back home
Dazzling sun shafts pierced the gloom where, 20 feet below the surface of the Detroit River, diver Leon Sehoyan groped his way towards a pile of grimy gunwales. Pursuing his summer weekend hobby of searching out old bottles he swam toward the wreck.
“I’d found hundreds of bottles in the river over...
By Jim Leggett
from Issue 50 published on 09/09/2005
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...
By Ian Mitchell
from Issue 49 published on 15/07/2005
Gavin D Smith looks at how Diageo’s forerunners flirted with the idea of launching a ‘boutique’ distillery based on an illegal operation – and how it ended up on the shelf
Today we take distillery visitor centres for granted. They have become part of Scotland’s tourist infrastructure, with ‘whisky tourism’ estimated to generate around £17m per year, and more than 40 distilleries opening their doors – and their cash tills – to visitors.
Recently it has even been anno...
By Gavin D. Smith
from Issue 34 published on 5/10/2003
Riannon Walsh uncovers the work of archaeologists rebuilding an important piece of American, and whiskey, history- the distillery owned by George Washington, celebrated General and the first President
George Washington to James Anderson, Plantation Manager, Mount Vernon Virginia, 1797: "I consent to your commencing a distillery and approve of your purchasing the stills and entering of it..."
In the early autumn of 1777, George Washington led 11,000 troops, recently battered and defeated at Bran...
By Riannon Walsh
from Issue 15 published on 16/4/2001
Tom Bruce-Gardyne traces the history of Berry Bros. and Rudd through Prohibition, a period that saw the birth of one of themost famous blends in the world, Cutty Sark.
Jack Diamond was not a typical Berry Brothers customer – that much was obvious. For one thing, not many of those who bought their port and claret from this ancient and venerable wine merchant had a quashed conviction for one homicide, let alone five. And not many were destined for the same fate.
Af...
By Tom Bruce-Gardyne
from Issue 14 published on 16/2/2001
There's a noble tradition of whisky making in Canada based on the superb qualtiy of its grain. Kathleen Sloan and Ted Mcintosh pay tribute to a unique spirit.
With more than 85 per cent of Canadian rye whisky exported to the US alone, there’s definitely more than four and twenty Yankees singing the praises of this pale amber spirit that is exclusively associated with Canada.
Canada is the perfect place to grow grain, so producing quality whisky from it c...
By Kathleen Sloan
from Issue 10 published on 16/6/2000
