The Mash and Still Houses are about 50 feet long by 30 feet broad, and contain an iron Mash-tun, 12 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep, possessing the usual stirring gear. On passing through the hopper referred to, the ground malt falls into the Steel’s Mashing Machine, which mixes it thoroughly with the hot water before it falls into the Tun below. The wash is cooled by being pumped up through a pipe 200 feet long, which is immersed in the Worm Tank, which is the only Cooler. We then ascended a staircase to a lofty apartment, called the Tun Room, over the Mash House, where the floor is concreted, and which contains five Washbacks, each holding 4,000 gallons. The liquid, after fermentation, runs by gravitation into the Wash Charger and from it to the Wash Still, which has a capacity of 1,600 gallons, thence into the Low-wines and Feints receiver, from whence the immature spirit runs by gravitation into the Spirit Still, holding 1,200 gallons, and after that process it runs as a pure spirit through the Safe into the Spirit Receiver. All these latter vessels are in the upper flat of the Still House, and both Stills are of the old Pot kind.
The plan of the cooling is novel.
The Worm Tank is formed of concrete, 50 feet long by 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep, divided by a partition along the centre, a continuous body of water capable of, and used for, turning two wheels, rushes along the one side and back the other, over the worms, proving the simplest and most effectual condensing method we have met with.
The lower flat of the Still House is sunk 10 feet on the side opposite the Copper and Stills, so that the coals are emptied from the cart through a shoot and landed beside the furnaces without any further labour; here there is accommodation for holding 50 tons of coal.
The next compartment is the Spirit Store, where there is a Vat containing 1,750 gallons, which receives the spirit from the Stills. Here the Whisky is casked, branded, and sent into the Bonded Warehouses, two in number, roofed with corrugated iron, and built with stone. One of these Warehouses is of three spans, each 40 feet wide and 100 feet long. The other is a two-decker, 80 feet by 40 feet, and there were 2,000 casks of Whisky of various ages stored in these Warehouses.
There is no steam power in this Distillery, the continuous flow of water being sufficient to drive all the machinery, which includes grinding, mashing, elevating, steering, and pumping. Several industries are carried on. We visited one or two of them, notably the Cooperage and Cask Sheds, spacious buildings, neatly arranged and possessing the necessary appliances for sweetening and repairing. Adjoining is the carpenter shop and smithy, and across the yard the stables and cart sheds. Near the entrance there is a small office for the Distiller, and another for the Excise. The Manager resides in a neat house adjoining the barns.
The Whisky is pure Highland Malt, and the annual output is 80,000 gallons, which is sold principally in England and Scotland.
The chief Excise officer is Mr. F. J. Ivinson.
