Cardhu

The story of Cardhu is the story of the Cumming family and especially of two women, who over 80 years helped make this small farm distillery into an industry leader.
In the early days after 1811 Helen Cumming and husband John made ends meet on their farm at Cardhu with a little illicit malt whisky making. It seems Helen ran the still, while John ran the farm. Canny were the Cummings, for when the Excise Men came to check for illegal distilling, they would be invited in. But thoughtful Helen also risked raising a flag, to warn others of their presence.
For a dozen years Helen’s watchful eye kept the generous spirit flowing, until in 1824 John could acquire a license to distil legally. Helen continued to oversee an increasingly well known Cardhu until her death in 1874 at the ripe old age of ninety-five. Now, another strong woman came to the fore.  Her name was Elizabeth, and she was the wife of Helen’s son, Lewis, who had died in 1872.
Elizabeth, who became known as ‘The Queen of the Whisky Trade’, rebuilt the distillery and doubled capacity, making Cardhu one of the leaders in malt whisky making. It was so highly regarded that in 1893 it became the first malt distillery to be purchased by John Walker & Sons, who to this day consider it to be the spiritual home of Johnnie Walker.
Elizabeth was in a position to negotiate for her son a seat on the new owners’ Board. Several members of the Cumming family would enjoy long careers there, the last retiring as Chairman in 1982. Her generosity was equally manifest in the community: a Scottish trade journal reporting that local people wished the new owners success “with vastly more heartiness on account of Mrs. Cumming still being in her old hospitable home”.