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The Secret Still is the most comprehensive book ever devoted to Scottish illicit distilling. It examines the historical events and legislation that gave rise to and sustained its boom years, during which the Scottish countryside, and even city centres, teemed with 'sma' stills' and were awash with whisky which had been distilled without payment of excise duty.
Using an innovative blend of formal documentation, apocryphal tales and oral history, acclaimed whisky writer Gavin D. Smith follows the fortunes of the illicit distillers as successive governments tried to prevent them from plying their trade, describing their manufacture, transportation and eventual consumption of the product of Scotland's clandestine stills.
The book covers all areas of Scotland in which illicit distilling took place, and also looks at legal distilleries which had their origins in the illicit trade, including famous names such as Highland Park and Lagavulin. The result is a fascinating glimpse into an activity that was a major factor in Scotland's black economy until the second half of the nineteenth century.
