It's survival is a tribute to the resourcefulness of the Highlanders who were forced to resort to smuggling and illicit distilling to dodge the heavy tax imposed on whisky by the English excise men during the 18th century.

Having at his disposal easily transportable equipment, the smuggler hides in the innumerable glens. The most valuable part of the rustic still is the copper coil. Immersed in a cask and cooled by the river's water, it enables the condensation of spirit vapours in a distilled liquor preciously collected.

The authoritative bodies did have the brilliant idea of offering a 5 Pounds bonus to anyone who would denounce the existence of an illicit distillery. Therefore, when his coil was worn out the smuggler only had to get the governing authorities visiting the place of the so-called illicit still, where he had previously judiciously hidden his old coil. The bonus money so collected would allow him to buy a brand new coil without delay !

Smugglers organised signaling systems from one hilltop to another whenever excise officers were seen to arrive in the vicinity. By the 1820s, despite the fact that as many as 14,000 illicit stills were being confiscated every year, more than half the whisky consumed in Scotland was being swallowed painlessly and with pleasure, without contributing a penny in duty.

In 1823 the Excise Act was passed, which sanctioned the distilling of whisky in return for a license fee of £10, and a set payment per gallon of proof spirit. Smuggling died out almost completely over the next ten years and, in fact, a great many of the present day distilleries stand on sites used by smugglers of old.