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01 April 1998
Whisky man who found ideal blend for skyline
By
Graham Nown
Speyside's most familiar' landmark is the elegant outline of pagoda chimneys topping its distilleries, Their distinctive shape dominates the skyline and appears on dozens of road signs leading tourists round the famous Whisky Trail. Yet few know where the pagoda roof came from, who invented it or, most importantly, which Scottish distillery fIrst set the architectural fashion which was copied everywhere. Now the work of Edinburgh artist, Bruce Devin, who has spent two years drawing each one, has gone onto the Internet and the story behind them can be revealed.
Before the distillery building boom of a century ago, the smoke from whisky distillery malt kilns drifted from conical cowls, like those of Kent hop houses. Then along came inventive Elgin architect Charles Chree Doig, one of the most creative minds in the whisky industry, with a restless urge to improve. Yet the name of distilling's unsung hero goes largely umecognised. His modest house in Elgin, now converted into flats, carries no plaque. His handiwork, lending style and practicality to many famous distilleries, is completely forgotten. From Orkney to Islay and Speyside to Skye, few distilleries in Scotland - and several in Ireland - were not designed, altered, added to or improved in some way by the family firm of CC Doig of High Street, Elgin.
Leafmg through a century of delicate ink and water-colour distillery plans meticulously drawn by Doig and his two architect sons who survived him, is like turning the pages of a unique history of Scotch whisky. From 1870 to 1964, 5,000 plans in 1,237 linen and paper rolls were carefully preserved m his studio. They were presented to Elgin Library by retired architect Wilhe Brander whose company, Alistair J Morrison, absorbed the Doig practice.
The collection, constitutes one of the most comprehensive records of distillery design and history assembled in Scotland. "It was not simply a matter of designing distilleries," recalls Brander, who rebuilt Glenglassaugh distillery. "We also knew secrets of making whisky. What mattered was our ability to mellow a whisky, or change its accent if it was too light or too loud." "We were called in to make critical adjustments to the still to produce the kind of whisky the distillery was looking for.
Years later, when stills were worn and needed replacing, we would advise exactly what changes were to be made. When we built a distillery, the responsibility for its whisky remained with us." Doig's skill and experience were afforded enormous respect in the days when architects were also distillery engineers who could turn their hand from locating water to fme-tuning whisky. In designing stills and still-rooms, he created the micro-climates in which malts of singular character were born. "Quite commonly in Victorian times, the banker, grocer, butcher and a handful of local businessmen would get together to build a distillery as an investment," says Ian Urquhart, managmg director of Elgin-based Gordon & MacPhail, the world's largest whisky merchants. "Detail and design were left to the real experts, like Doig."
His urge to improve can be found in patents he took out for devices to cut the risk of fire and explosion. Victorian distilling was a dangerous occupation and many distilleries were destroyed by sparks in milling machines, or igniting spirit vapour. The way he arranged the flow of production in distilleries reveals an orderly, logical mind. He disliked waste and ineffIciency and was ahead of his time experimenting with whisky-making residues which, these days, are processed into high-protein cattle feed.
But the innovation Doig should be best remembered for was born at a site meeting on 3 May 1889. Mackenzie & Co., owners of the Dailuaine distillery, a mile outside Aberlour, commissioned Doig to make alterations to their maltings. His faded inked and water-colour plans feature a chimney with slatted sides, not unlike Victorian ventilators of the roofs of Highland railway stations, chapels and malt barns. Then Doig had second thoughts.
The original is firmly crossed out and transformed into the now-familiar pagoda shape, with a small triangular roof. Still unhappy, he took a pencil and curved the edges to achieve the perfect lines he was looking for. Its construction was clearly weighing on his mind because, noted in ink below, were the names of the mason, carpenter and slater he had in mind for the diffIcult job. Dailuaine was transformed. Doig's invention attracted a visit from the prestigious Wine Trade Review. It marvelled at the design which was not only strikingly attractive, but provided a stronger 'draw' to the peat fires of the furnace.
Within a short space of time, everyone wanted a pagoda roof. And, in the distillery building boom of the mid1890s when money was no obstacle, everyone had one. His work could be found at a long list of distilleries, including Aberfeldy, Colequrn, Craigellachie, Cragganmore, Benromach, Dalwhinnie, Dallas Dhu, Glen Elgin, Glen Albyn, Glen Mhor and Imperial. Doig and his architect sons Charles Jnr. and Willie also worked on Talisker, Glentauchers, Millburn, Glen Drd, North Port, Knockando, Auchinblae, Caol Ila, Highland Park, Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Tamdhu, to name but a few. But the distillery destined to become one of Scotland's greatest industrial monuments never received its rightful place in history.
Dailuaine was destroyed by fire in 1917, a year before Doig's death. As villagers vainly tried to form bucket chains, flames roared high into the sky from the 80ft pagoda chimney before it toppled and collapsed Dailuaine was rebuilt. But, ironically, in an industry where heritage has become a buzz word, the Dailuaine of today has no maltings, pagoda roof nor, indeed, any visitors.
It is an ugly duckling of a distillery, patched and blackened, with all the romance of a cement plant. Doig died on 28 September 1918 at 63. Distillers travelled great distances from all over Scotland for his funeral. His lasting memorial, in the shape of many great distilleries and their whiskies, lives on. This article originally appeared in The Scotsman and is reprinted by permission.
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