LOST AND FOUND
The resurrection of whisky from some of Scotland’s defunct distilleries
Over the last century over a hundred whisky distilleries – almost half of all distilleries that have ever existed in Scotland – have been closed or demolished. Global economic downturns, over production, world wars and prohibition have all played their part, leaving the buildings and original walls of long defunct distilleries to dot the landscape, like skeletons of the nation’s whisky past. For most, their whiskies are long gone, the last bottles drunk decades ago. Tragically, the names and histories of oncethriving distilleries are also in danger of being lost forever. Or at least they were until the Lost Distillery Company entered the equation.
Established in 2013, the Lost Distillery Company brings the stories and histories of these distillery sites back to life. Using archive research they breathe new life into the histories of closed distilleries, and ultimately create modern expressions of long lost whiskies.
They don’t own any ancient casks or have any samples of these long lost distilleries, and they don’t have any secret recipes or old dusty tasting notes. Nor do they have any plans to reopen defunct distilleries. But what they do have is an impressive archival team who have painstakingly researched these lost distilleries to help create a modern resurrection of these whiskies in the form of blended malts.
Their archiving team is headed up by Professor Michael Moss from Glasgow University and looks at ten key components that would have influenced the original character of these lost whiskies. Once they have established these their blending team then looks to recreate a modern interpretation of these components. The ten key components are: Era: The date of the last distillation can give an indicator of the type of distillery equipment that would’ve been used. Locality: Neighbouring distilleries may have shared similar sources of water, barley and yeast. Water: Was the water soft or hard? What was the mineral content? Barley: Was the barley peated? If so, what was the phenolic content? What strain of barley was used? Yeast: What type of yeast was used? Peat: How much peat was used if the malted barley was peated? Was it local peat? Mash tun: What was the mash tun made of? Was it open or closed? How was the temperature controlled? Washback: Douglas Fir washbacks were the norm in those days. Still: The shape and size would have a big influence on the spirit. Wood: What type of cask was used? What had been in the cask before?
Over a century ago whisky would not have been chill-filtered or have had added caramel colouring, so nor do the Lost Distillery Company whiskies. At present the Lost Distillery Company have successfully resurrected six different ‘lost whiskies’ – Strathden (Fife), Auchenagie (Perthshire), Gerston (Caithness), Jericho (Aberdeenshire), Lossit (Islay) and Towiemore (Dufftown, Speyside).
They are researching several other distillery histories and sites, with each taking over six months to fully explore before a new expression can be blended. The label of each bottle gives details about the type of casks used, the distillery and reason it closed, tasting notes and whisky characteristics based on the archive research.
The Lost Distillery Company are bringing whisky drinkers as close as possible to sampling ‘lost’ whiskies as they once tasted. It is a story as fascinating as it is heartwarming.
‘Tragically, the names and histories of once-thriving distilleries are in danger of being lost forever’