Talisker

The spirit of Skye

Sit in the manager's office of Talisker Distilleryat Carbost and watch the sun move slowly across the steep shoreof Loch Harport, and it's not too difficult to understand some ofthe reasons for the existence of this most unlikely ofdistilleries. For as the sun moves it picks out the lines oflazy-beds that lie almost all the way along this apparently mostinhospitable lochside. And, if you drive from Carbost onto themain road at Glendrynoch, the fast-moving late-afternoon lightcatches more forgotten strips of intensively cultivated landaround the head of the loch. These long-discarded remains of athriving, if not hard-fought, agricultural economy are testimonyto the purpose of the man who founded Talisker Distillery, and tothe work of many more whose lives, and whose family's lives, wereprey to Hugh MacAskill and the inexorable economic and socialforces that shaped his ambition, and the ambitions of many otherslike him in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Retrace your steps. Drive back towards Carbost, but at thehead of the steep and narrow road that leads down into thevillage turn left and pass the waterfalls of Carbost Burn. Itnever seems possible that this vigorous stream that provides thecooling water for the large worm tubs at the back of Talisker'sstill-house runs dry, but as manager Mike Copeland discoversevery summer, it does. Stereotype Skye weather, like its people,at your peril! As you follow the steep road through Gleann Oraid,Talisker River rushes to your left, and then to your right,descending steeply to run into the sea at the steep cliff-sidedTalisker Bay. And here, almost in breathless isolation sitsTalisker House, whose timeless tranquillity belies the restlessenergy of the water that hustles past it, the savagery of thenearby mountains and the ruthlessness of some of its occupants,most notably our distillery founder, Hugh MacAskill.

To do him credit, MacAskill was not the first to clear theland at Talisker. Donald Macleod had let the estate to LauchlanMacLean in 1818, and it was then that the process of movingpeople from the bulk of the land to displace them with moreprofitable sheep was begun. MacAskill, then, only completed thework, taking over Talisker estate in 1825. The distillery was akey part of his strategy. It would provide employment for thosewho remained on the land, and also a market for the barleyproduced on the diminishing areas of land that were set aside forarable cultivation. Built in 1830 at Carbost, one of thecommunities on the shores of Loch Harport that he had largelycleared of families, the distillery was described by a formerminister of the Parish as "one of the greatest curses that,in the ordinary course of Providence, could befall it or anyother place".

Curse or cursed? It certainly appears that neither thedistillery, nor Talisker estate, lived up to MacAskill'sexpectations. In 1840 Hugh inherited estates on Mull, and with itCalfary Castle, where much of his efforts were to be directed.And despite the elegant and comfortable lifestyle that TaliskerHouse offered, Hugh moved his family to Rudha an Dunain in nearbyBraccadale in 1846. Three years later he gave up his lease on theTalisker lands. He gave up the distillery, managed by himself andhis brother Kenneth with a brewer, Archibald Sinclair fromCampbeltown, in 1848. The lease for the distillery and lands wastransferred by the MacAskills to the North of Scotland Bank andthe general management was passed over to the manager there, JackWestland (Sinclair remained brewer until his death in the late1860s). This suggests they may have been in financial difficultyat the time; when Kenneth MacAskill died in 1854 he wasapparently the sole partner in the business, leaving stock intrade and distillery utensils to the value of £ 1374 3s 2d, andbook debts worth £ 259 12s 8d. When Hugh MacAskill died in 1863he left surprisingly little (only £ 2713 4s 1d), and had nointerest in the distillery.

Donald MacLellan (sometimes MacLennan) purchased theDistillery from the North of Scotland Bank in 1857 for £ 500. Hedescribed himself as a farmer from Vatersay, Barra; he hadmarried Normana Johanna McLeod Tolmie, a daughter of HughMacAskill. MacLellan spent 163 600 improving the distillerybuildings and plant (it is possible that the distillery had beensilent since Kenneth MacAskill's death in 1854), and in 1859 tookover a 31 year lease for the lands of the distillery. Despitesevere capital problems, caused by prolonged expensive (andultimately unsuccessful) law suits involving the Barra property,he began distilling at harvest 1860. The result was "a heavyloss, which my Books will show, and which I account for ingeneral from the circumstance that my want of capital made meunable to keep the Distillery in regular work..."; he wasalso forced to sell a large amount of whisky through an agent inGlasgow at a price considerably lower than that obtained throughdirect sale. He had also, since 1857, had to bear the cost of"wages to the persons looking after [the distillery]".On 5th November 1863, after only intermittent working of thedistillery, MacLellan was sequestrated. The distillery wasadvertised for sale by MacLellan's trustees first at £ 700,then, in April 1864 at £ 500.

MacLellan's trustees appear to have employed him inworking the distillery on a limited scale after the bankruptcy.By 1865 MacLellan had appointed John Anderson ("acantankerous gentleman") as agent for Talisker whisky inGlasgow. In the following year Anderson took over the lease ofthe distillery; in 1867 he purchased the distillery, which bythen was in a desperate state: "the thing was in ruins, andall the dishes [stills?] useless". Anderson set to workimproving the buildings ("I think I have paid in extendingthe distillery and renewing the vessels £ 5300"); he alsospent heavily obtaining stocks of Talisker on the private market."That money was expended in making the business what it isnow; in bringing out this old whisky, I established the characterof the whisky to the trade". Talisker was certainlyattracting a premium at this time, "not a gill" wasdrunk on the island because "it was too dear".

Anderson's optimism hid the fact that expenditure always ranahead of income. Speculations in the purchase of English barley("because for the last few years barley has been bad, and in1877 and 1878 extra bad") led to further losses, whichAnderson tried to overcome by using stocks of new whisky to clearhis debts. Having increased the capacity of the distillery fromaround 20,000 gallons a year to 30,000 gallons he was confidentof being able to clear debts by selling new whisky on the market."There is not", he declared, "a whisky gets abetter reputation on the market or brings a better price thanTalisker whisky". Nonetheless things went from bad to worse;cheques were written without sufficient funds to cover them, andfirms were invoiced for whisky that they did not receive, andthat had not been made. Anderson's ability to keep track of hisbusiness and the activities of his clerk (who later absconded)were constrained by illness: "I may mention", he toldhis trustees, "that I cannot look into the books as I am soblind". When he was bankrupted in February 1879 Anderson putan optimistic value of £ 6500 on the distillery; his trusteesvalued it at only £ 2500.

Ironically, given one of MacAskill's principal reasons forestablishing the distillery, Anderson's main liabilities were tocorn factors and grain merchants. In less than fifty years thedistillery had outgrown the rationale for its existence, and fromthen onwards could survive only on the basis of the quality ofits spirit. More reasoned management, first from AlexanderGrigor, a noted Speyside distiller who built markets for Taliskerin Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon and South Africa; and then theambition Thomas Mackenzie, whose Daluiane-Talisker Distillerieswas a fledgling competitor to the Distillers Company, putTalisker on a sound and established footing.

As a consequence, it was one of the largest selling singlewhiskies in the country by the early part of this century, asboth archives and the continued appearance of antique Taliskerbottlings at whisky auction testify. Its reputation goes beforeit, and few serious malt whisky drinkers would be without abottle of Talisker in their drinks cabinet. But who do they haveto thank for this wonderful spirit of Skye, whose powerful noseand peppery palate can conjure up the essence of its birthplacein a way that few other whiskies can manage? The distillery'scurrent owners? Or Mike Copeland, manager and fierce guardian ofits heritage? Mackenzie, Grigor, Anderson, ManLennan et al, HughMacAskill and his brother? Or the hundreds of souls who toiled onthe soil of the forefathers to scrape a meagre living in thenineteenth century, and to whose endeavours the landscape stillpays eloquent testimony? Take a visit to Skye and decide foryourself.

Dr. Nicholas Morgan

If you have comments about thissite, please contact the webmaster. Unless otherwise noted, all information in this site© The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1997.