Still House (7). Elevated view from east of row of three Low Wines and and Feints and spirit safes. Digital image of C 3885 CN.

Description Still House (7). Elevated view from east of row of three Low Wines and and Feints and spirit safes. Digital image of C 3885 CN.

Date 26/4/1993

Catalogue Number SC 732157

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 3885 CN

Scope and Content Still house from east, Balmenach Distillery, Highland Balmenach Distillery was formally established in 1824, when legend has it James Macgregor was visited by an exciseman who advised him to 'take out a license on yon peat shed' in which he had been illicitly distilling whisky. Like most distilleries it has been renovated and has changed hands several times in the course of its history, before being 'mothballed' in 1993. It was acquired by Inver House Distillers in 1997, and is now once more in use. This shows the still house from the upper level. The copper pot stills (right) heat the wash from the fermentation process, releasing the alcohol as vapour. This passes over the lyne arms to coils of copper called worms in tanks of cold water outside. These condense the vapour into spirit which then flows along the black and blue pipes to the brass and glass spirit safes (left). The spirit safe allows the stillman to monitor the flow of spirit produced by the distillation process. The first and last parts of the run from each still, known as foreshots and feints, are sent back for further distillation, and only the purest 'heart' of the run channelled to the filling vat. The safe is locked to protect the taxable spirit within. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/732157

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap