Rubbish Beer

Today the brew finished and I started transferring it to the still in preparation for tomorrow's first distillation. Yes, that is a wheelie bin - it's the right size of container to act as a washback for these stills. Also, it kind of illustrates the lengths the illicit distillers went to, to hide their stuff from the excisemen (or "gougies" as they were known in Wester Ross): the brew would often be hidden amongst the rubbish, to disguise the smell.

This evening e did a blind tasting with John, the master distillers. Very educational, and I actually found an Auchentoshan I liked (yes, I know it was a blind tasting, but we were told the region and if someone says it's a 25yo Lowland malt, and you realise it's triple distilled, the mystery is kind of gone...)