The Distiller and the Gauger: whisky beyond the law

A grain kiln on a Kildonan hillside gives us somewhere to make whisky and a rather convenient explanation for the smoke. Standing beside it, I can point out the fresh water running in the burn and the ground below where barley was grown. A little copper still could fit comfortably into this farming landscape, turning some of that crop into something more profitable than dinner. But operating without the required licence and avoiding the whisky duty makes it an illegal business, and the excise officers, the gaugers, are looking for precisely this sort of arrangement.

One guest standing here with me had spent his entire career with the Inland Revenue. He suggested that, without people like him, perhaps we wouldn’t have the Scotch whisky industry we know today. I can see his point, although somebody concealing a still might find it difficult to share his enthusiasm. Even helping with illicit distilling could bring a £30 penalty. A farm worker in Sutherland in the 1830s might earn about £7 a year in cash, so that fine represents more than four years’ wages. Where are you going to find it? If you cannot pay, you can spend six months in prison while your family manages without you.

At Badbea, above the Caithness cliffs, the inhabitants have somebody looking out for them. When the gaugers call at the inn in Berriedale, the innkeeper sends a messenger running the three miles to warn the settlement. People carry their malt towards the hills and rocks before the officers arrive. A revenue cutter offers a less predictable approach, however, bringing armed men who scan the cliffs, climb to the hiding places, smash barrels and burn buildings. The neighbours respond by gathering what can be recovered and helping put the business back together. They have good reason to keep the officers occupied somewhere else.

The revenue men are enforcing the law, but the people avoiding them know the ground, help one another and sometimes anticipate the question before it is asked. One hostess, offered payment for whisky by an officer posing as a traveller, has an answer he certainly isn’t hoping to hear. Listen to the audio blogcast for her encounter with the gauger, and the Badbea cooper whose quick repairs undo a raid’s destructive work.

To learn more, listen to the blogcast or book one of our North Coast Explorer private tours.