Ferintosh

	If you go through the history of Scotch, everyone will come up to ‘Duncan Forbes of Culloden’ and ‘Ferintosh’. The oldest literature about the Scotch Whisky is the Royal Family’s record of receipts and disbursements (1494) and it’s kept in the General Register House. The oldest whisky distillery which its name can be classified is Ferintosh. Many historians and whisky journalists writes about Ferintosh in there own words but there are more about this distillery which most of them remains mystery.
	Tolquhoun Castle		Culloden House
	Duncan Forbes 1st Laird		John Forbes 2nd Laird
	Duncan Forbes 3th Laird		Arthur Forbes 7th Laird
	Duncan the First of the Forbes in Culloden was born between John, the younger brother of Willian Forbes the 7th lord of Tolquhon Castle in Aberdeen and his wife Elizabeth. Duncan held a mayor of Inverness and owned a wide territory at Culloden in 1626. After that, he held a new land in Ferintosh and John (the Second of the Forbes)　the son of Duncan acquired a license of manufacturing Aqua Vitae. John’s son Duncan (the Third of the Forbes) flourished the fine quality of Aqua Vitae, which was distilled at the distillery in Ferintosh (later known as whisky), all over Scotland. In the 1760’s the Forbes extended there distillery and made three more distillery in Ferintosh. They made rapid progress but the revenue office reinforced the regulation in 1784 and the Forbes lost the tax free privilege they had since 1689 to get rid of the discontent of other traders. Soon the Forbes closed there distillery in 1785. This must be the year Arthur the 7th turned 45. The extent of the Ferintosh district where the Forbes owned is said to be on the east side of Corntown of Black Isle and the site was 6500 acres wide. The first distillery existed in Ryefield and they started running the distillery before 1689 and this distillery was taking a leading part.
	Ryefield House		Ryefield House
	Sequoia		Wall Garden
	Now in Ryefield, there stands a residence which Arthur, the Seventh of the Forbes constructed in 1771 and Duncan Forbes, the Fifteenth of the Forbes and his wife lives there. In the garden, you can find old trees that are more than a hundred year old, and wall gardens. In the woods there stands a　structure of the Ferintosh distillery from 17th century. From the back garden of the main building you can view the Cromarty bay, Ben Wyvis 1045m high and the town of Dingwall.
	The structure of the 17th century		The structure of the 17th century
	The back garden of the main building		The view of Ben Wyvis
	The land where they named Ferintosh is originally a place where they stood many chapels, but the name Ferintosh can not be seen on any maps except the map of 1801. But when I met the guidepost on the spot, I thought I heard the spirit of the ancient stillmen. They were waving there arms saying　“We are here” . They were pointing “Ryefield”. I’d like to express my biggest thanks to Mr. Duncan and Mrs. Isobrl who invited me warmly in spite of my sudden visit.
	COPYRIGHT©2004 Pub Mahorobi. All rights reserved