Pictures of Inverness A Peep Into Glen Mhor Distillery 1897

This brief review was published in the Highland News - Saturday 23 October 1897. It focuses on the Mackinlay & Birnie financed booklet featuring the words of Alfred Barnard. This publication remains on my most wanted list and is in effect a lost chapter to Barnard's epic tour of Scottish distilleries, as when he visited Inverness for Glen Albyn and Millburn, Glen Mhor was still a patch of farming land.

So, I've always viewed this as a supplementary chapter and given the detail that Barnard was capable of including in his distillery summaries, it would be a remarkable document complete with photographs. 

The British Library have confirmed they don't have a copy, this leaves archives somewhere or a descendant of the Mackinlay or Birnie family. The text itself reads as:

'A handsomely got-up booklet has been issued by Messrs Mackinlay & Birnie, Glenmhor Distillery, Inverness. The main purpose of the bookis to give a descriptive account of their extensive distillery premises on the banks of the Caledonian Canal. Many of the interesting features of the distillery are shown pictorially, and there is also a clear and intelligent description of the various departments of this establishment in the letter-press. The whisky stores and export bottling warehouse of Messrs Charles Mackinlay & Co. in Leith occupy a prominent position in the booklet. The beautiful views of Inverness and neighbourhood add an additional value to the work, while the descriptive portion, from the pen of Mr Alfred Barnard, will be preused with interest.'

This gives us the most detailed account yet of what is in the publication. The fact that it comes with photographs means it is a very unique prospect and rich in potential information.

My hope is that the booklet exists within the Glasgow University archives for the Mackinlay's, which will be the next area of focus once I've collated all the Inverness information I have yet to publish. If it is along the lines of the Saladin Boxes booklet, then it will be rich in detail but also very delicate. That booklet was from 1949 and in remarkable condition, I can only hope that somewhere, a copy of A Peep Into Glen Mhor Distillery exists. And with the recent publication of the Distilleries of Great Britain and Ireland, such a discovery remains possible.