Did You Know Something Peculiar Happens with Cats at Distilleries?

Did you know that a long time ago, many cats roamed around distilleries? This might seem strange, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Whisky is made from barley. We appreciate the final product, but the barley itself is particularly popular with mice.

Mice are an unwelcome presence in barley. They not only eat it, but they also leave their metabolic by-products behind. It's decidedly unhygienic! You would definitely want to keep them far from your barley storage and malting floor.

That's why almost every distillery had one or more cats patrolling the area, their full-time job being to catch these small rodents. And like everywhere else, there are cats that are terrible at it, cats that are average, and cats that excel at it.

One cat that was truly incredible at this was Towser. This cat wandered around Glenturret from 21-04-1963 until 20-03-1987, during which time she caught an unbelievable total of 28,899 mice... For those quick at math, yes, she lived for 24 years. This feat also earned her a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

To record the number of catches, Towser was observed for a few days. From there, they calculated approximately how many mice Towser had caught. But that's not all.

Towser didn't care for mouse tails and would leave them at the same spot every day. This allowed the staff to determine exact numbers of how many mice she caught on the premises. The story also goes that she caught a great many birds, rabbits, and pheasants outside the premises.

Another 'did you know' within this 'did you know'. Glenturret is the oldest active distillery in Scotland. Established in 1763 and, with some breaks, still operating today.

Most distilleries outsource malting nowadays. There are a few that still malt themselves, including Springbank, a few Islay distilleries, Highland park and The Balvenie, but this is often more for the tourists than for production.

If there are still cats around, it's more for their charming company than for catching mice. This is also the case at Glenturret. There are still 2 cats roaming around. Glen…. and Turret.

Check out the rest of our 'Did you know'-articles.