Back to Jim Simeone's Home PageHave you ever read the William Black quotation on the Lagavulin bottle and wondered where it came from?
Well so did I, and a little research (actually it took over 4 years) uncovered that it came from "The Strange Horse of Loch Suainabhal" not "The Strange Horse of Suinabhal" as printed on the bottle. William Black sure wrote a lot of books! But I found this short story in a collection entitled Lady Silverdale's Sweetheart and Other Tales. You can get it at the University of Illinois Library. It was published in London by Sampson, Low, Marston & Company, which firm neglected to include a publishing date. One further irregularity. The full quotation as it appears on the bottle is as follows: ""I hef been in Isla more as three times or two times myself, and I hef been close to the 'Lagavulin' Distillery, and I know that it is the clear water of the spring that will make the 'Lagavulin' Whiskey just as fine as new milk." But in the story, which is narrated by Alister-nan-Each (who I do not believe to be a trunk), the passage runs as follows: "I hef been in Isla more as three times or two times myself; and I hef been close by the Lagavulin distillery; and I know that it is the clear watter of the spring that will mek the Lagavulin whiskey just as fine as the new milk."