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Did you
know?
Tthe first written record of whisky distilling in Scotland dates from
1494, when it was called ‘aqua vitae’, which is Latin for
water of life. By the beginning of the 17th Century this name had been
replaced by its Gaelic equivalent ‘uisge beatha’, shortened
to ‘uisge’ (ooshka), itself becoming the modern word ‘whisky’.
Whisky has been taxed since 1644 and this (not surprisingly perhaps)
led to whisky being produced in many illicit stills hidden away in the
moors and glens of Scotland. The Tomatin area is criss-crossed with the
old roads and tracks used by cattle drovers who, together with smuggler
merchants, were the customers of the illegal distillers.
The last wolf in Scotland was shot at nearby Slochd in 1743 by a clansman
of MacQueen. (Photo of wolf)
Culloden Battlefield is situated 10 miles north of Tomatin. After the
Battle of Culloden in April 1746, the defeated Jacobite leader, Bonnie
Prince Charlie, is said to have hidden at nearby Moy before escaping government
troops and making his way to the Isle of Skye and his eventual exile in
France. (Picture – courtesy of Ray Owens and link to his website)
Adjacent to the distillery is the site of a bridge built by the prolific
Highland road builder, Major-General George Wade (he was commissioned
to build the road network so that government troops could traverse the
Highlands during the pacification campaign following the Jacobite rebellions).
This historic bridge spans the River Findhorn at Raibeg.
At one time Tomatin owned its own hill farm and employed a shepherd
to look after a large flock of sheep and a small herd of dairy cows. Fresh
milk was supplied to every distillery worker every day.
The warm water expelled during the distillery process was an ideal environment
for the breeding of eels, and in 1977 the company began to farm them.
The water was also perfect for baby salmon, known as fingerlings, and
in 1981 the eels gave way to salmon. The fingerlings were ‘grown’
to smolts – young salmon of about 3-4” long, when they were
sold back to fish farms for growing on to maturity. Although this practice
ended in 1984, one of the site buildings is known to this day as the Fish
Farm .
A standard dram contains 50 calories – less than a glass of wine
or half pint of beer.
Whisky is Scotland’s No 1 export, and is in the UK’s top
5 export earners.
In France and Spain, whisky is popular with men and women alike –
much more of a lifestyle drink. In France, more whisky is consumed in
one week than cognac in a month. |
