HISTORY OF THE DISTILLERY
1918-1928
New ownership and the Roaring Twenties
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HISTORY OF THE DISTILLERY
1918-1928
New ownership and the Roaring Twenties
Before the War ended Glenmorangie had passed out of local ownership, being bought over by its largest single customer, the Leith based company Macdonald and Muir. The high levels of duty which the Government had imposed on whisky distillers in an attempt to raise more revenue for the War Effort had forced many smaller companies to the wall, and it would seem that Glenmorangie too, had been struggling to survive the twin scourges of high taxation and low levels of production. The death of Andrew Maitland in 1899 had also cost the company the most energetic of its directors and although his younger brother James had taken over his place on the board, James’s interests were focused elsewhere. There are hints that standards of maintenance had been allowed to fall away after about 1900 and that the distillery badly needed new investment if it was to survive. Macdonald and Muir, however, could see in this an opportunity for future expansion at a low cost and, to safeguard its supplies in future it had embarked on a policy of buying some smaller distilleries.
Perhaps the most obvious sign of change before the production of whisky recommenced in 1919 was the introduction of tighter controls on spending and it is from this time that the first cash books date. These detail whisky deliveries to local customers as well as established clients further afield, records of bonuses paid to the remaining employees for their service to the company in keeping the distillery in good order during the War, as well as accounting information which shows that by the late summer of 1918 it was appreciated that the fighting would soon be over and that production would soon begin. In anticipation for this, the peat-store was replenished with new supplies brought by rail from Sutherland in October 1918. Although the distillery had changed hands, the company had not purchased the property outright, and we find from the cash book that feu duty was still paid twice a year to the superior of the land, the exotically titled Count of Serra Largo. He though was no foreign nobleman, for he had begun life in Badenoch as plain Peter Mackenzie and had received his title from the king of Portugal for services rendered as a representative of the Singer Sewing Machine Company in South America. He had retired to Tain and purchased Tarlogie from its bankrupt owners, and, although not a rich man himself, had lived in considerable style there with his Brazilian wife and seven children. His son and successor, Edward, known locally as Eddie the Count, sold the estate in the 1930s to Colonel McLeod.
Recruiting had taken place over the winter of 1918/1919 and in February, malting resumed and climbed rapidly to its pre-War levels as the new owners sought to make up for the lost production and attempt to make good depletion of the stocks held in the bonds at the distillery. Throughout the early spring of 1919 Alex Smart scoured the farms of Ross and bought barley from commercial suppliers as well in an effort to procure sufficient supplies to feed the increased levels of production. At the same time the distillery seems to have been given a thorough overhaul rather than wait for the silent season, Macdonald and Muir being determined to safeguard the production levels in every way they could.
By the beginning of the 1920s the rigours of wartime production were passed and the distillery had recruited up to its full complement of sixteen. This was boom time, the "Roaring Twenties" when Britain and the rest of the world put behind it the austerity of the previous decade and indulged in an exuberant policy of "spend, spend, spend". Yet it was a very fragile recovery for, encouraged by the success of the high duties imposed in the War period, the Government had maintained its high level of taxation on whisky and cut deeply into the profit margins of the traders. Prohibition in the USA also hit hard the weaker members of an industry left tottering after the War and still more small independent companies went bankrupt or were taken over by larger conglomerates. Glenmorangie, however, owned now by a company that was ambitious to consolidate then expand its market position, was cushioned from this to some extent even though it had lost its valuable North American trade.
As the market for whisky elsewhere continued to expand the new owners brought in a series of changes, some market driven, others arising from the new society of post War Britain. Wages, for example, had risen considerably (being more than double the pre-War rates) and were now paid on a fortnightly rather than a monthly basis. The staff, however, was at the same time becoming more stable, with fewer summer lay-offs and still fewer casual employees brought in for additional labouring work. Since production continued until late into the summer and resumed before the end of October down to the 1927 season, there was a problem with this for the maltman could not be spared for the peat cutting. When the traditional supplies in Sutherland began to run out the company began to buy from the Orkney based Eday Peat Co and from other contractors in the Edderton area. As late as 1926 no men could be spared to cut additional peats and ten men had to be hired from local farms to carry out the work that had traditionally belonged to the maltmen. By 1927, however, the drive for production had seen the lost production made up and there was a return to the old silent season system of reducing the malting thoughout May and June and finishing mashing in June. That year, however, the maltmen were not laid off as usual immediately malting had ceased, being kept on to repair the sea wall beyond the railway line. It was only after the traditional cleaning of the flues at the beginning of July that four men were paid off for the summer.
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