Whisky has been distilled in Glenlivet for longer than anyone can remember. In the beginning every farmer and crofter spent long dark winters converting surplus barley into "uisge beatha" - the water of life.
When small stills were made illegal in the eighteenth century the inhabitants of Glenlivet became smugglers as well as distillers. Eventually in 1824 the first legal distillery in the Highlands was built by George Smith in Glenlivet.
