Distillery Guards and Mousers

Distillery Guards and Mousers

Between the barley starting to germinate and the mature spirit leaving the distillery a wide range of people are involved; think of maltsters, stillmen, secretaries, managers, truck drivers, tour guides, just to name a few. But no matter how different their role in the whisky-producing process is, they have one thing in common: they all belong to the same species, Homo sapiens.

             Besides humans, a number of non-humans have their significance in the running of a distillery. You could argue of course that yeast is the most crucial, most indispensable of them all. Without yeast, there would be no fermentation, no alcohol, no distillation, no whisky. Yeasts are one-celled organisms, which are not, as many people think, simple plants. Yeasts are related to mushrooms and other fungi and recent DNA-research has shown that fungi as a whole are much closer related to animals than to plants.

To consider a yeast cell as a non-human distillery employee is stretching things a wee bit, I feel, so I want to move up the intelligence ladder to a group of real animals that perform important functions on the distillery grounds, such as guarding the premises and keeping them mouse-free. If you think DM only means 'Distillery Manager', look at the title of this Celtic Spirit feature and think again .....

 Without a doubt, the most famous DM is Towser. Born on April 21 1963, Towser lived at Glenturret Distillery for almost 24 years and caught a total of 28,899 mice (pity the person who kept score!) plus an uncounted number of rats, rabbits and pheasants in her life. Her tally of mice earned her a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the World Mouse-catching Champion. She had many fans around the world who sent her caviar, smoked salmon and other goodies; she also did a lot of TV work. 

             Towser died March 20 1987 and ten years later a statue was erected on the distillery grounds to commemorate her. If T.S. Eliot had known about Towser, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats might have contained an additional poem ("Towser: The Distillery Cat") and the musical CATS would have needed an extra actress.

Towser was and is not alone: many distilleries have cats or other animals and we want to make you familiar with these different distillery employees!

Celtic Spirit is proud and happy to welcome Walter Schobert on board to introduce distillery employees of the feline kind. He knows more distillery cats than anyone else on the planet and has interviewed many of them for his German publication Whisky Watch (which also has a web-presence at www.whiskywatch.de)

Thanks to Fiona Mailer of Glenturret Distillery for the material on Towser she so enthusiastically provided, to Gerd Schmerschneider for the photo of Towser's statue, and to Mat Goddard for the yeast photo

© 2001 Alex Kraaijeveld & Walter Schobert