The story behind this area dominating the whisky market is a fascinating one, the Scotch Whisky timeline starts with the earliest documented record being an entry in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland dated 1494, stating “eight bolls of malt to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aqua vitae.” Aqua vitae being latin for “water of life” which in turn is “Uisge Beatha”, (pronounced Ooshkih beh-ha), in gaelic, which was then anglicised to “whisky”.

In 1644 the first official taxes were imposed on Scotch Whisky, in 1707 following the Act of Union the Parliaments of England and Scotland united resulting in increased taxes. In 1757 a massive crop failure forced the British Government to prohibit the sale of distilled spirits for 3 years, the use of a private still for household consumption however was not prohibited. The consequences were inevitable, it was estimated that by the 1760’s, private distillers were producing around 500,000 gallons a year, meantime the legal distilleries were producing around a tenth of this! In 1781 distilling for private consumption was banned.

The government tried to control the legitimate distilleries and the Excise act of 1788 enforced a minimum “batch” volume to be processed within the pot still of 100 gallons (450 litres), this act only applied to the Lowland distilleries as at this time a different tax regime existed between Lowland and Highland areas.

The legitimate distilleries also had to pay a high rate of tax which was imposed on the malted grain so in order to cut costs unmalted raw grain and other inferior products were used. For the Lowland distilleries the use of inferior ingredients combined with being forced to use the larger stills resulted in a very poor quality whisky.

The Highland distillers were to be taxed on the whisky volume produced and allowed to use smaller stills, however the whisky produced by the few legitimate Highland distilleries could only be sold in the Highlands due to the differing tax regimes.

Meanwhile the operators of the illicit stills continuously improved their product using a high level of malt or exclusively malted barley in a small still with lots of copper contact producing a much more smooth and flavourful whisky.

Such was the difference in quality between the whiskies, almost everyone imbibed upon the superior illicit whisky, Lords and Lairds, members of Parliament, Judges, Lawyers, ministers of the gospel and even His Majesty George IV when he visited Edinburgh in 1822 asked for a whisky that had been produced in Glen Livet.

More than half of the whisky consumed in Scotland was being enjoyed without the taxman taking his cut despite it being more expensive than the whisky produced by the licensed whisky distilleries.

The authorities had been slow to act and lost control of the situation, by the 1820’s as many as fourteen thousand illicit stills were being confiscated each year across Scotland.

In the vast sparsely populated regions in the North and the Islands there were huge numbers of illicit distillers, there was said to be some 200 stills operating in Glen Livet alone.

You will see as you drive through the area the vast number of suitable locations next to water among the glens and crags and how easy it would be to set up a still. If you are visiting during the winter then you may see the extreme weather conditions this area can be exposed to. It would be very difficult for the Excise officers or “Gaugers” as they were known, (part of their job being to gauge how much malt or wash was being used by the legal distillers), to travel across Speyside trying to catch the illegal distillers in action. For this reason, much of the illegal distilling was done during the winter months, the barley would have been harvested and the water sources at their coolest.

Most people in the communities were aware of the illicit distilling and would happily turn a blind eye to their activities, even the usually honest members of the clergy were known to hide scotch under the pulpit. It is said that a horse drawn hearse with a coffin full of whisky would be used to transport the whisky and if passing the Excise officers the locals would take off their hats as a sign of respect, the officers had no choice, the whisky was allowed on its way!

This illicit trade diminished shortly after the Duke of Gordon, Speyside’s primary landowner proposed in the House of Lords that the government should reform the whisky taxes, the 1823 Excise Act was then passed sanctioning the distilling of whisky for a licence fee and a set payment per gallon of proof spirit reducing the duty on Scottish whisky by more than 50 percent.

This incentivised many of the illicit distillers to legitimise themselves, (most notably George Smith who founded Glenlivet), or seek work for the many newly formed distilleries and grow their business.

Speyside distilleries Balmenach, Cardhu, Glenlivet, Mortlach, Strathisla (1786) & The Macallan all obtained their licence at this time.

(Even though the illicit trade faded away following the 1823 Excise Act, isolated cases continued up to as recently as 1934 when a prosecution took place after a 12 gallon still was discovered in a cellar below the Gordon Arms Hotel in Keith!).  

In 1861 the Strathspey Railway Company built a line between Keith and the Boat of Garden with stops at Aberlour, Craigellachie, Knockando and Ballindalloch, thereby improving transport links to the south. New distilleries located themselves around the line opening Speyside up to the blending market.