The Glenlivet has come a very long way from its illicit origins on a Speyside farm to its current status as one of the world’s best-selling single malt Scotch whiskies. Good reason, then, to celebrate its 200th anniversary extravagantly this year.
The Glenlivet was the first distillery in the area to be granted a licence in the wake of the highly influential 1823 Excise Act, which came into being as a result of the high levels of illicit distillation being practised in Scotland, particularly in more inaccessible parts of the Highlands where detection by the government’s revenue officers was unlikely.
By the early 1820s as many as 14,000 illicit stills were being seized by government officials each year, and it was estimated that more than half the whisky consumed in Scotland had been illegally produced. In 1822 alone there were no fewer than 6,278 prosecutions for illicit distilling, and this was clearly
