Whisky's Wild Past: Hike to Illicit Stills

Ad Gefrin, a three-year-old distillery in Northumberland, is illuminating the region's 200-year history of illicit whisky production. The distillery offers four-mile walking tours that trace the footsteps of historical moonshiners. These tours visit remote, well-preserved sites like Wholehope Still, showcasing the challenging environments where whisky was once made.

The rugged landscape, abundant with barley, peat, and water from mountain streams, provided ideal conditions for clandestine distilling. These operations, often referred to as "innocent whisky" for evading duty, supplied local inns during periods of border movement and cattle droving.

Archaeologist Christopher Ferguson, who leads the Ad Gefrin project, highlights the historical significance of these remote operations. The harsh conditions required immense grit from the stillmen, underscoring the economic and social importance of whisky in past centuries.

Illicit distilling in Northumberland eventually ceased in the 1820s and 1830s due to excise crackdowns and competition from Scotch whisky. Ad Gefrin's launch in 2023 marks the return of whisky-making to the region, celebrating this hidden heritage through its tours and its new Cræft Series malts.