WHISKY REVIEWS, NEWS, HISTORY & FOLKLORE
A matter of life and death…
Lagg is Arran’s newest distillery and the next chapter in a story that began with the opening of Lochranza in 1995. It took a while, but the success of the Arran malt meant expansion was essential so plans were drawn up for a new distillery at the opposite end of the island. Ironically, the location of the new distillery has a longer and more storied connection with the national spirit than the original site in the north. The many sheltered coves and cave systems of the southern coastline were useful to smugglers and countless stills were dotted around the countryside, producing spirit that could easily be shipped off to the thirsty folk of the mainland.
Pot stills came from a coppersmith in Campbeltown who kept meticulous records of his business dealings, which isn’t necessarily a good idea when a significant portion of your trade is done with illegal enterprises. Arran’s distillers had countless run-ins with the men of the excise. Sometimes they managed to evade capture but other times the gaugers got their way.
One particularly dramatic episode in this eternal cat and mouse game saw the Prince Edward Revenue Cutter follow smugglers to Kilmory. Knowing they were being pursued, the smugglers hid their goods as quickly as they could but the gaugers were able to recover it and made their way back to the bay with their prize. The people of Kilmory Parish were less than pleased with such officious interference, however.
A crowd gathered and harrassed the government agents as they tried to make their leave and the situation escalated so quickly that three unarmed islanders soon lay dead on the ground. As reported in the London Star, Monday 15th September 1817:
On Tuesday last, the Court proceeded to the trial of John Jeffery, mate of the Prince Edward Revenue cutter, accused of the crime of murder.
“Upon Tuesday the 15th day of March last, he being in command of a boat belonging to the said cutter, the crew of which were armed, did land upon the island of Arran, for the purpose of searching for smuggled whisky; and having discovered some casks secreted in the muir ground of the farm of Shanochy, he did seize the same; and in conveying it with the party under his command to the shore, a number of persons in the neighbourhood having assembled from curiosity, did follow the prisoner and his party; and he having conceived a causeless malice and ill-will against the said persons, did feloniously barbarously himself fire a pistol loaded with ball at the persons so assembled, and did repeatedly order the party under his command to fire, by which William McKinnon, one of the tenants of the farm of Torrylin, parish of KIlmory; Donald McKinnon, son of the said William McKinnon, and Isabel Nichol, daughter of Peter Nicl, tenant in High Kilmory, were mortally wounded, and did in a short time thereafter die; and were all and each of them murdered by the prisoner.”
Witness testimony: “Some boys and men followed the party, and some of them were speaking to the mate. Isobel Nicol laid hold of one of the crew by the breast. I saw a boy with a stone in his hand, which he threw, but it did not strike any one. The mate then gave orders to fire… There was more than one shot fired, and William McKinnon said “Good God, Donald, I am gone!”. I saw him fall to the ground, and went to his assistance.”
He continues under cross examination: “It (the whisky) belonged to the men who were shot. The mate more than once desired the people following to keep back, saying, if they did not, he would be obliged to use his arms. There were two shots fired before Bell Nicol laid hold of the man; they hurt nobody. When Bell Nicol laid hold of the man by the breast, orders were given to fire, and they fired at her. There were about forty persons there at the time, mostly women and children; not one-third of the number were men. I think they were meaning to take back the whisky.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the court sided with the government’s agents…
Solicitor General: “The result of the present inquiry has been clearly to show, that the character of an useful officer in the public service stands unimpeached, and that he has done his duty with a manliness and discretion that does him credit. And, in the next place, the result of the investigation has been to show those lawless persons, who trust to impunity from their remoteness from the seats of justice, that is impossible, with safety to themselves, to assault or endanger the lives of public officers.”
The jury, without leaving the box, immediately returned an unanimous Not Guilty verdict.
It’s quite something to read praise of the mate’s manliness given his role in the shooting of an unarmed woman. To me, it seems quite a drastic action to take, even if she did put her hands on one of the men. It becomes all the more understandable that the people of Arran, and other islands like it, only grew in their contempt for the “parasitic gaugers” so brilliantly described in Robin Laing‘s, song “Paul Campbell”
The Government’s agents, those parasitic gaugers
Have pestered this island for a year
They’re ruthless and they’re wicked and they killed Isa Nicholl
And left her poor children in tears
They come in the night and they break things for spite
And they think that the people will crumble, out of fearThey came to Balmichael when the still was at a trickle
And destroyed everything they could find
I couldn’t hold my temper and though I don’t remember
They say I made one of them blind
But a man has to fight when he thinks he is right
And if he loses all in the struggle, never mind
Appropriately, Lagg Distillery chose to name their first core expression after Kilmory, the site of the confrontation outlined above. Perhaps when we raise a dram to our lips, we should spare a thought for Isabel Nichol, the Arran lass who died trying to stop the goverment from taking away her whisky. She sounds like my kind of person.
The Whisky
Lagg Kilmory is a single malt from the south of Arran. The whisky has been matured entirely in first-fill bourbon barrels. It’s bottled at 46% abv.
Smell: First impressions are of a young, fresh, malty nose. I can pick up grist and flour. Like standing in a mill, or even a malting floor. Now there’s lemon curd and pineapple tarts. Wee touch of immaturity showing as a slight new make character. The peat is there too, of course. Not medicinal but slightly perfumed at first, like lavender smoke or rosewater smoke (those aren’t real things are they?!), then it turns earthy, like chunks of dried-out turf.
Taste: Light, crisp, fruity arrival. Another wee sign of youth as it quickly develops some spirit heat, right at the front but that evolves into black pepper, aniseed and liquorice. Then the peat smoke begins to build, getting stronger the further back you go. Some new oak and honey in there, too. A splash of water brought some lovely fruits to the fore: lemon, pineapple, apple, pear… I thought of apple pastries and pineapple tarts again.
Thoughts: Despite some obvious flashes of youth, the nose is surprisingly complex. I found it a nice mix of malt, fruit and earthy smoke. The experience feels like it has good form and a nice flow across the palate. It progresses smoothly from fruity arrival, to spicy to peaty and while the smoke is big, it never gets too big for the spirit. It’s held in check by the structure and only comes out around the mid-palate. It isn’t perfect but Kilmory is an important foundation stone upon which the Lagg core range can be built and it’s only going to get better with subsequent batches. One for the peat heads to watch in the years ahead.
Price: £48. Standard for an entry-level, new distillery release at 46%.
For more on Lagg Distillery visit here.
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