The stories of illegal whisky stills and smuggling in the highlands are numerous. And for good reasons of course, who is not enchanted to read about the romantic stories of long gone days of the Scots fighting against the English and the rules which have been laid upon them.
The reality is, of course much less romantic, as the story tells of the still which is on display at Glenfarclas's entrance to their director's room and nosing & tasting room.

This article goes together with the Glenfarclas VR Distillery tour and shows the original letter of the custom & excise officer who seized the still and printed into easy to read modern typeface, and a picture of the still seized as it is on display now at Glenfarclas.

original report of the seizure

Honourable Sirs

Huntly NB 15 March 1888

I beg to report the following case of seizure of an illicit Still.   Accompanied by the local Officer Mr Gurnell, aided by the Preventive Staff from Grantown and Kingussie we proceeded on Tuesday morning the 13th inst. To the parish of Glass or Cabrach in search for smuggling, it having been rumored that a man residing in the parish of Glass was using an illicit Still. I decided to search the man's house first and there we found an Still and Still head of about 20 gallons conts concealed between the ceiling and the roof. We also found about 6 bushels of unground Malt. This we destroyed. Only traces of spirits in Jars and bottles were found. On searching the rocky grounds behind the house we discovered at about 200yds distance a complete well concealed bothy evidently recently put up. It contained the worm and worm tub – also a tub containing about 5 gallons of sour wash together with other articles all of which except the worm we destroyed. In a hollow behind a wall in the plantation near the bothy we found the mash tub of 60 gallons content. This together with the Still, Still head and worm I had conveyed to my residence at Huntly where they are now pending instructions for their disposal.   Offender's name is James Smith commonly called 'Joshen' aged 82, a retired gamekeeper. He lives at Graigdovnie in the parish of Glass and County of Banff.   He offered no explanation but admitted that he only made spirits for his own use. He is evidently very poor – occupying 2 or 3 acres of land and keeping one cow. Acts Notated-- 43.44 Vic C24S 5 Penalty 500 GBP 9 & 10 Vic C 90 Sec 2 50 4.5 Vic 4 C51 Sec 6 100 3 Geo 4 C52 S108 100 3 Geo 4 C52 S113 200 I am Etc

---

You think you have something to add to this article? You can do so by using this form below! Your comment will be added on the bottom of this page.

Name :
Type yellow text* :
Email** :
Comment :

*) To prevent abuse by automated systems we have to include this extra security step.
**) If you want to receive an email when a new comment is added, please include your email address here. Address will not be shown on this page or used for any other purposes.

On 20 February 2006, Patrick added the next comment:

The harsh reality...

On 11 December 2007, Taylor Jones added the next comment:

Can you please explain what the specific parts of the still is?