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Spey River
The River Spey begins high up in the Corrieyairack
Forest and travels 107 miles (172km) northeast across the Highlands
before spilling into the North Sea at Spey Bay, between Lossiemouth
and Buckie. On the way it is fed by tributaries from the Grampian
and Cairngorm mountains. As it passes through Aberlour it is joined
by the River Lour.
The river, said to be the fastest flowing in Britain,
derives its name from the Gaelic word Spe, meaning spray or froth.
It is famous for its salmon – known as the "King of
the Spey" – and for the many whisky distilleries that
lie along its route. The Spey, which passes through some of the
most beautiful scenery in Scotland, is a river of contrasting
moods and at times is transformed into a raging torrent, especially
during the spring when the snow melts. There have been several
major floods down the years. See Muckle Spate.
Spirit safe
It is at the spirit safe that the stillman
monitors and analyses the alcohol that emerges from the second
distillation. The spirit safe, which rather resembles a brass
fish tank, was introduced in 1825 as a legal requirement to ensure
that no one gained access to the spirit before any tax had been
paid. Hence the large padlock which secures the spirituous content
inside.
Regulating the polished brass taps on the front
of the spirit safe, the stillman skilfully controls the flow of
raw spirit, which is divided into three parts. First come the
"foreshots" which contain impurities and are set aside,
then the "centre cut" which goes on to become whisky,
and finally the "feints" – the back end of the
run. The feints and foreshots are returned to the process to be
redistilled with the next batch of "low wines" in the
spirit still. See Distilling.
St Drostan's Well
St Drostan is known to have visited the Celtic
settlement on the banks of the River Lour some time after AD 580,
having first come to Scotland as one of St Columcille's closest
disciples. Those at Aberlour who converted to Christianity were
baptised by Drostan in the clear, cool waters of a spring near
the Lour. In later years this spring became known as St Drostan's
Well, and an engraved stone was placed there to mark the spot.
Some 1,300 years later, in 1879, James Fleming shrewdly built
the Aberlour Distillery on the site of St Drostan's Well, using
its magically pure spring water as the core ingredient in the
whisky produced – as it still is today. As for the ancient
well-stone, that has been safely preserved at the distillery and
can be seen in the new Visitors Centre. See Drostan,
St.
Standing stones
There are a number of standing stones dotted
around northeast Scotland, the ancient legacy of some of the earliest
settlers in the region, principally the Picts. It was the invading
Romans who gave these northern tribes their name, picti (painted
people), because of their custom of body tattooing. Many of the
stones erected by the Picts, often in the most isolated and inaccessible
parts of the countryside, have symbols cut into the surface. Some
of these are indecipherable, their meaning lost in the mists of
time; others represent animals, fish, the stars or the moon. Several
tell the story of a battle or some other great event.
Sometimes stones many miles apart, and further than
the normal travelling distance of the time, display images that
are remarkably similar, an indication that they might be the work
of itinerant artists or storytellers. Many of the later stones,
coming after the introduction of Christianity to northern Scotland,
have elaborately carved Celtic crosses or depict some biblical
theme. On Fairy Hill, directly behind the Aberlour Distillery,
there are some very early examples of standing stones, mysterious
weather-beaten monuments that have stood silently for more than
a thousand years. If only stones could talk, what a story they
could tell!
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