Distiller making a spirit of the air (Balblair)
Ian Buxton visits Balblair
As the internal arrangements and vessels are like the other distilleries in the district, it is not worthwhile to recapitulate themâ commented an
unusually blunt Alfred Barnard on his visit to Balblair.
Though we might admire the brevity of this approach, Alfâs somewhat taciturn description belies the interest to be found for todayâs visitor at this attractive little distillery.
Not least are the wonderful archives, with the earliest history of the distillery preserved in the original sales ledgers.
The original Balblair distillery was founded in 1790, and sales records survive from 1800. The first entry is prefaced: âJohn Ross Christopher, Tacksman of Balblair, January 25th 1800â and we can see that his first sale was âto David Kircaldy at Ardmore one gallon of whisky at £1.8.0dâ. Thatâs around four litres of whisky at a cost of £1.40 in todayâs measures.
Later the distillery offered a range of qualities: double strong whisky is noted at 4/6 per pint; spirit is 3/6 per pint and dram whisky is 3/3 per pint â or about 16 pence for around a half litre. Say 22 pence for the equivalent of todayâs 70cl bottle! Some quick arithmetic suggests that either Mr Kircaldy was getting a decent quantity discount or he wasnât buying the good stuff.
âArdmoreâ being a neighbouring farm, perhaps it was just for his labourers. Mind you, the local minister ran up a bill for over £15 which he had to pay off in instalments. Presumably his sermons were not on the .....
To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue
or subscribe to Whisky Magazine to have every issue delivered direct to your door.
You can unlock and read this entire article with 1 of your community tokens by clicking here.
By Ian Buxton
Section : Distillery Focus
Page number : 30
