Forest Heritage Scotland webpages -Dogfalls illicit still

Date 2009

Event ID 588197

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/588197

Forest Heritage Scotland

The website text produced for Dogfalls webpages on the Forest Heritage Scotland website (www.forestheritagescotland.com).

Introduction: The water of life

Below a rock outcrop close to the Dog Falls waterfall in Glen Affric you can find the remains of a hidden whisky still.

The name "whisky" comes from the Gaelic "Uisge Beatha", meaning "water of life". The secret of making whisky is thought to have been introduced to the west coast of Scotland from Ireland around 1500 years ago.

While whisky is made elsewhere in the world, Scotch whisky is certainly the most famous.

In the Highlands of Scotland in the 18th century, making (or "distilling") whisky was a common activity. Nearly every household would have had its own whisky still, to make enough to provide for themselves. They sold any surplus and sometimes even paid the rent in drink!

The government, however, wanted to extend its control over whisky production, and the Excise Act of 1788 banned the use of stills that made less than 100 gallons at a time. This meant that all small household stills became illegal. All this achieved was to send Highland whisky production underground with people hiding their whisky stills, like the one at Dog Falls, in remote places.

People Story: illegal...but good!

Today illegal goods are often seen as inferior to their legal counterpart, for example badly copied DVDs. Yet, in the 18th century, both rich and poor sought after illicitly made whisky, as it was better quality than its legal counterpart.

The poor quality of legal whisky was due to the high rate of tax imposed on the malted grain used to make whisky. To cut costs, the large distilleries began to use unmalted raw grain. This produced an inferior drink called [i]"Corn spirits"[/i].

"...chiefly drunk by the dram drinkers, who wish to get drunk at the cheapest rate, and whose corrupted stomachs prefer the hardest spirits"

From 1798 Parliamentary Papers relative to the Distilleries of Scotland quoted by T. Devine (1975) in "The rise and fall of illicit whisky making in Northern Scotland, c. 1780-1840".

The illicit stills (which, of course, paid no tax!) continued to use good malted grain, and so, once it had been smuggled to lowland markets, it fetched a higher price than the whisky made by the licensed whisky distilleries.

Evidence Story: Recognising an illicit still

How do you know when you have found the site of an illicit still?

You will probably find the remains of a small stone building, which will look very similar to a shieling hut.

This is the case both at Dog Falls and at Newe's Craig, another illicit whisky still site. There are, however, pieces of evidence that can help you identify the difference.

Firstly, due to the illicit nature of the trade these building tend to stand alone and in remote places, often well-hidden.

Secondly, they are usually close to a water source. The distillation process requires water. Sometimes you can identify a lade, a small man-made water channel, that would lead the water from the stream or burn to the whisky still.

At Dog Falls, you can see a stone lined channel that runs from the River Affric to the stone walled remains of the still building. It is rare to find any evidence of the actual equipment used to make the whisky.

To find out more about this equipment and the evidence we have for its use check out our other whisky still site,Newe's Craig.