Whisky on the rocks – the bootleggers bothy hidden away on a lonely hillside
HIDDEN on a hillside with a good view across the road below, it was the perfect spot for bootleggers to distil illegal whisky while keeping an eye out for the excise man.
Now, more than a hundred years after it was last used, the site of an illicit still thought to date back to the early 19th century has been discovered in the Highlands.
The still is thought to have been located in a bothy found in the Cabrach area of Moray, near Clayshooter Hill. Still partly intact, the structure is sheltered by a small crag. Historians Gregor Adamson and Dr Kieran German, who are researching whisky distilling methods used in the Cabrach area in the 18th and 19th centuries, made the discovery.
Dr German said: ‘Undoubtedly, illicit distillers using this site would have had a clear view of excise men approaching.
‘From the road, the only possible tell-tale sign of the bothy would be smoke arising from the process of distilling, but the backdrop of the hill and the weather would often obscure even this indicator of the illicit activity taking place.’
He added: ‘The walls remain intact and the footprint of the bothy is easily identifiable. It is built into the side of the hill, so the two other walls are of earth and stone.
‘A stream runs past one of the walls, before disappearing underground, so there was a constant source of running water.’
In 1823, after a number of attempts by officials to put an end to illicit distilling and smuggling, a new Act of Parliament heralded the era of commercial distilling.
The latest findings will be used to shape plans by the Cabrach Trust – established to facilitate local regeneration – to transform nearby Inverharroch Farm into a whisky distillery operating on authentic historical methods.
Trust executive director Sue Savege said: ‘This is a significant find and gives us important insight into the role the Cabrach and its people played in the history of whisky.’