Glenlivet to produce the most exclusive Whisky in Scotland

[John]

A WHISKY-making technique last used by "moonshiners" in the Highlands two centuries ago is to be revived at one of Scotland's leading distilleries.

Once commonplace among whisky smugglers, distilling via a "sma' still" has been illegal since 1824, but now, with the agreement of the government's excisemen, the Glenlivet Distillery on Speyside is to recreate the technique and produce one of the most exclusive single malts in Scotland.

Until the early 19th century, more than half the whisky consumed in Scotland was produced by clandestine stills, hidden away in almost every hill and glen.

At the present-day Glenlivet Distillery in Banffshire - one of the first legal distilleries to be established in Scotland - Jim Cryle, the retired master distiller, turned the clock back yesterday to begin the first legal distillation from a "sma' still" in almost two centuries.

Source: The Scotsman Newspaper