The Cabrach

In the 1700s and early 1800s the Cabrach mixed farming with illicit distilling, and at its peak it had well over 100 pot stills.^3,6,7 After the Excise Act of 1823 ended most illicit distilling within a few years, Blackmiddens in the Upper Cabrach was one of the first farms licensed to make whisky.^2,6,8 Its distillery, later renamed Buck, ran from 1825 and ceased trading when its distiller, James Smith, died in 1833.^2,6,8 By 1851 the last of the Cabrach's stills had fallen silent.^3,6,7