HOW ‘WEE STILL' WHISKY IS MADE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 18, 30 April 1892, Page 451

HOW ‘WEE STILL' WHISKY IS MADE.

The process of making whisky by the * wee still ’ is a very simple one, and requires no great chemical knowledge. An old hand at the business, with whom we onee foregathered, described to us the primitive method with as much fervour as a scientist could describe an important experiment in his laboratory. * You see,’ he said, as he tapped his snuff mull, * the way to make the good speerit is not an easy way at all, but I will make it plain to you, so you can practise it without deetliculty. First the bar ley is put into bags and in a running water to soak it. Then it is put in a room underground covered over with wood and divots. You could walk over the place without knowing what was there, it was just like what the Word says of treasure hid in a field. Ay, many a time I thought on that, people moving all about it and over it and never knowing it was there ! Then it was taken to the kiln. This was a business of great deefliculty, for the smoke would let people know what was going on, you see. But, howsomever, it had to be done. The malt was placed on cross sticks covered with straw, and it was dried by a fire of peats in a hole below. ‘ It’s the peat that gave it the fine taste. Ach ! not like what they call a “ blend. " Them and their blends ! But, as the minister says—to proceed. When the malt was dry it was bruised or ground in a mill, and after that it was carried on the back of a horse or man to the bothy, and he would be a clever fellow that would find it there. Then they put the ground malt in casks with water to what you call ferment, and a boy or lassie was left to stir it with a stick of willow or the birch. Then they placed the. stuff which was in the casks in the still. The still was made of copper, just so large as could be carried on the back of one man. If there was no money to buy a copper, we used to get one of tin, though it is not so good. The crooked pipe or worm that was screwed into the still must have water always running over it to keep it cool, and so the bothy was always beside a stream. The whisky came pouring out of the worm into a tub below. Ay, it was a grand spout ! The same thing was done a second time, with not so much heat, and a small piece of soap was put in to make the whisky clear. Then the work was done, and what we had then to do was to drink it and to sell it. Where will you get the like of it to-day V Truth to tell, however, ‘ Wee still ’ whisky can only be drunk by the makers. The taste is poisonous and the strength outrageous. A small ‘ tot ’ will give anyone but a Highland * crofter ’ a swelled head for a month.