This work comes from the book The Whisky Roads of Scotland, first published in 1982 by Jill Norman and Hobhouse, with text by Derek Cooper. Distilling grain into whisky was illegal in the 18th century but the resourceful Scots found routes to smuggle the spirit from the Spey valley and the wild mountains that surround it to towns such as Aberdeen or Elgin. Aberlemno stone is one of a group of Pictish symbol stones carved over 1200 years ago, Aberlemno lies midway between Forfar and Brechin.