In this episode I discover more about the role women played in the distilling of usquebaugh (or the water of life) and whisky in Scotland with Peter Gilchrist, food historian at the Tenement Kitchen and host of the Scottish Food History podcast. Peter and I are joined by Rosalind Erskine, Food and Drink Editor of the Scotsman and host of the Scran podcast.

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Useful Links

Don’t forget to check out Peter’s website The Tenement Kitchen which explores Scottish folk cookery. You can also find him on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. You can also listen to the Scottish Food History podcast which Peter hosts with Dr Lindsay Middleton here.

You can find out more about Rosalind’s work on her website and also find her on Instagram. Ros is also the host of The Scotsman’s Scran Podcast.

Walter Gregor Tonic Water who make the intriguing turnip tonic!

Lots of whisky distilleries were mentioned in the podcast including Ardbeg which was run by early female distillers Flora and Margaret McDougall in the 1850s.

You can listen to the talk I gave on the history of gingerbread at the 2025 Scottish Food History here along with Perilla Kinchen’s keynote talk on the influence of Catherine Cranston and her tearooms.

Suggested Reading

* Rebellious Spirits: The Illicit History of Booze in Britain by Ruth Ball (2015)

* The English Housewife (1615) by Gervase Markham (ed. Michael R. Best, 1998)

* With Faith and Physic: The Life of a Tudor Gentlewoman by Linda Pollock (1993)

* ‘The Early Use of Aqua Vitae in Scotland’ in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1916)

* Water of Life: A History of Wine Distilling and Spirits 500 BC to AD 2000 by C. Anne Wilson (2006)

Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.

A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5.

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