Ben Nevis Distillery - Fort William, Scotland
There are some who would have you believe that there exists a kind of divine secret, a miraculous
ingredient or genius behind the manufacture of Scotch Whisky. I however, acknowledge no miracle
other than that which is worked when science and nature combine.
The principal ingredients are three, notably water, barley and yeast, with a measure of peat smoke
or reek.
Of these there can be no doubt that water is the foremost. On Ben Nevis I was fortunate to find
a constant and consistent source of pure clean water in two small lochans.
In order of importance, the second ingredient is barley. This must be clean and plump, fully
rounded and quite dry, containing exactly the right amount of protein.
Special distiller's yeast is the third ingredient. This has the texture of dough or putty and
is vital to the process of fermentation.
And fourthly there is peat, which comes to the whisky
through the water passing over peat bogs on its way down the mountain, and from the 'reek'
from the fire lit during the manufacturing process.
Once again, we are fully fortunate in that nature in her magnificence, has created on the hill behind us, an ample supply of peat in our
own banks to fuel the fires drying the barley.
- 14th June 1827
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