THE whisky industry is worth billions of pounds to the Scottish economy, and has been flourishing for centuries. When there was a loss of nearly 2,000 gallons in the 1850s, the spill was keenly felt.

By the mid-19th century, the Kilbagie distillery was well-known and had a reputation that stretched the length and breadth of the country. However, in 1852 it stopped distilling after the owners got into financial difficulties and it was repossessed. By 1856, instead of producing whisky, the site had been repurposed as a storage facility.

On the evening of Wednesday 27th February 1856 an event took place that had locals more than willing to help clean up.

That day around 1800 gallons of whisky was lost. The whisky was being moved from the still to the spirit receiver.

It was custom while this was being carried out that the doors to the respective compartments were locked by both the distillery and excise officials, with each having the key of the other to prevent any mismanagement.

It was a regular occurrence but this day, something went wrong. Instead of the cran of the spirit receiver being closed as it should have been, it was left open by accident, either by the excise officers or distillery officials.

As a result, all of the 1800 gallons of whisky fell through the receiver and onto the nearby waggon-way, road, and into the local sewer. The problem was no-one noticed until the following morning.

The next morning as local miners were making their way to work, they soon realised that the ‘extraordinary flow of spiritous liquor’ on the roadway was in fact whisky.

For some it was too good an opportunity to miss. Any vessel they had to hand was used to try and salvage some of the spirit for their own consumption, but others ran to raise the alarm and alert the distillery.

By that time though, it was too late. The whole lot had been lost.

As it still had to be refined, the whisky was standing at 65 per cent proof. It was also valued at 19 shillings a gallon because of this, so in all it was thought to have cost the distillery somewhere in the region of £2#,000, a considerable sum of money in the mid-Victorian period.

Both the excise officers and the distillery officials blamed each other for the incident.

Whoever was at fault for the spill, it caused a great deal of interest, not to mention laughter, in the local community.