Ballcorach

Explorer Tom The Glenlivet began with a man who made his whisky legal and then had to watch his back. George Smith knew the hidden stills of the Livet valley, but in 1824 he obtained the first legal distilling licence in the parish. I enjoy a bold business plan; carrying flintlock pistols because your neighbours might burn the place down is perhaps a shade bolder than I would recommend. This was remote Speyside country, well suited to illicit distillers and hard for excise officers to patrol. Smith’s licence changed the game. The distillery’s own account says threats followed, and he carried two pistols for protection. His son John Gordon Smith inherited the work after George died in 1871. By 1884 other makers were borrowing the valley’s valuable name, so John secured the identity of ‘The Glenlivet’ for his family’s whisky. That small word at the front of the label had a great deal of family stubbornness behind it. The place kept changing after the Smiths. Old barley lofts became its first visitor centre in 1978, bringing guests into buildings that had once served production. Six more stills arrived during a 2009 expansion, making fourteen in total at that time. You can see why a story that began with one determined licence now needs a proper tour to tell it. The distillery stands near Ballindalloch, on the edge of the Cairngorms, and welcomes visitors for guided tours and tastings. Book ahead and check the present opening days before making the journey; the quiet valley is lovely, but it will not conjure a guide out of thin air. Think of Smith on the road to obtain his licence, then enjoy the fact that you can arrive openly.