Illicit Scotch was as much a part of the Highland landscape as the mountains and lochs. Ingenuity reigned on both sides of the battle between peetreekers (illicit distillers) and gaugers (excisemen). It became part of Scotch whisky’s DNA. The most despised and feared ‘Gauger’ was Malcom Gillespie, who sported 42 scars from skirmishes with armed smuggling gangs. But Gillespie had an ally - a fearsome black dog, trained to seize smugglers horses by the nose until ‘the casks were all thrown from their backs.’