The Farmers’ co-operative 1825 – 1853

All through its history it has been believed that legitimate whisky making at Edradour started around 1825. However, the distillery wasn’t built until 1837 so the earlier date always seemed dubious and rather difficult to confirm, but the references to 1825 are so overwhelming they cannot be dismissed, so I have a theory.

In the years immediately following the Excise Act it was common for farmers to form co-operatives in order to share the expense of the new larger stills required by law. Customs records show that Alexander Forbes, a farmer, from the parish of Moulin, held a licence to distil from 1825-1837. Without the confines of a proper distillery, of which there is no record, the local farmers probably set up a makeshift distillery as and when they required it. A farm outbuilding near a water source would have been ideal and the Edradour Burn would have been an obvious location.

By 1837 a distillery was built and a formal co-operative established with Alexander Forbes among the partners. Hence, distilling at Edradour dates back to 1825, which also coincides with the time that Edradour became part of the Atholl Estate again.

One unforeseen benefit of the 1823 Excise Act was to improve the quality of whisky. As purpose built distilleries became established the process of producing whisky was improved and refined, creating a spirit that tasted better and was therefore more sought after.

Local resident, Mungo Stewart, was a partner in the Edradour co-operative and lived at Mains of Edradour. It seems he took the lead in convincing his fellow partners that they really ought to construct a permanent distillery of their own.

We know that in 1833 or 1834 he identified a suitable strip of land alongside the Edradour Burn as the proposed site for the new distillery and he wrote to the Duke of Atholl for permission to build.

It is possible that a distillery was planned before this time but in 1830 the 4^th Duke died and the family seat passed to his second son John Murray who, the history books tell us, was not of sound mind. In fact he was insane. It seems that the affairs of the Estate suffered some confusion and lack of leadership during the 5^th Duke’s reign, therefore it is no surprise that a letter dated 1834 from Mungo Stewart and countersigned by the Estate Factor is chasing up a previous request for permission to build the distillery.

This letter has been carefully preserved in the Blair Castle archives and it is extraordinary to think that letter written over 180 years ago was part of the process that created the distillery and whisky now enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people each year.

Maturing whisky takes time and so, it seems, does building a distillery. It wasn’t until 1837 that distilling got underway and the Atholl Estate records show the tenants of the new distillery as Duncan Stewart, a farmer in Kinnaird, and James Scott, a grocer. Stewart was 27 years old and Scott 23.

Whilst these young men held the tenancy and were responsible for paying the rent, the co-operative was much larger and included Mungo Stewart and Alexander Forbes who at this time relinquished his licence to distil.

Dated April 24th 1836 this is the letter that Mungo Stewart wrote to the Duke of Atholl requesting a decision regarding the establishment of a permanent distillery next to the Edradour Burn.

Mungo Stewart himself was quite a character and on several occasions felt the wrath of the Atholl Estate and received a number of fines for cutting down trees that didn’t belong to him and upsetting his neighbours in one way or another.

From the letters sent to the Atholl Estate we can sense some anxiety among the co-operative as they try and get to grips with a larger and more complex operation. The Estate expected rent to be paid but a purpose built distillery required new and different skills and whilst the Excise Officers weren’t doing as much chasing of illicit whisky anymore, they were creating very rigid processes and procedures that distilleries had to adhere to. There was some concern as to whether the farmers would be able to adapt and if the distillery would survive at all. What they needed was a leader, someone with experience, and by 1841 they found a local man to take charge, his name was John McGlashan.

Meetings were held, terms agreed and a formal co-operative was established with eight local farmers putting pen to paper. The signatories included Alexander Forbes, Duncan Stewart, James Scott, James Robertson, Alexander Stewart and William McIntosh all working together under the trading name John McGlashan and Company. According to the Atholl Estate records Stewart and Scott remained the paying tenants of the distillery, making McGlashan the first ‘distillery manager’ at Edradour.

John McGlashan was 31 years old, born in nearby Logierait and had married a local girl from Moulin. Unlike his colleagues McGlashan doesn’t appear to have been a farmer or managed any land. His father was a ferryman so he wouldn’t have been brought up learning how to farm and he only ever gave his occupation as ‘Distiller’.

In addition to McGlashan the census records of the time reveal that James Robertson, one of the co-operative, was also a distiller and a young man called Peter Hay was employed as a mashman.

By the time that the Reverend Duncan Campbell submitted his Statistical Account in 1839, production at Edradour was well under way as one of seven distilleries in the small parish producing 90,000 gallons a year. That’s the same amount that a modern big distillery would produce in a couple of weeks nowadays.

Since the Excise Act of 1823 the number of distilleries being built increased, which led to an immediate boom in sales but this was followed by a period of uncertainty in the early 1850s.

The economy was weak and there was growing opposition to the spirits trade, leading the government to raise the cost of duty in 1853, 1854 and 1855. With sales in decline and costs rising it was no surprise that the Edradour co-operative decided to part company and get out of the whisky business.