This remarkable book examines the historical events and legislation that gave rise to, and sustained, the ’boom’ years of illicit distillery. During those times the Scottish countryside, and even city centres, teemed with ’sma’ stills’ and were awash with whisky which had been distilled without payment of excise duty. The book follows the fortunes of the illicit distillers as successive governments tried to prevent them from plying their trade, and chronicles its decline after the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Not that illicit distilling ever disappeared in Scotland, contrary to popular belief, and the recent past - and present - it is far from neglected.
Using an innovative blend of formal documentation, apocryphal tales and oral history, The Secret Still focuses on the manufacture, transportation and eventual consumption of the product of Scotland’s illicit stills. For the first time, the important role played by women in illicit distilling is given due credit.
The title does not just feature the whisky-makers themselves, however, but also the lives and duties of the much-reviled excisemen - or gaugers - who have received such bad press through the years. Geographically, the book covers all areas of Scotland in which illicit distilling took place, and examines the way in which the spirit was made, considering how it would compare to today’s whiskies. The closing chapter looks at legal distilleries which had their origins in the illicit trade, including such well-known names as Highland Park and Lagavulin. |
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