Annotation:William Young's Best Malt
X:1 T:Wm. Young's Best Malt M:C| L:1/8 C:Alexander Deas R:Strathspey B: Köhler’s Violin Repository, Book One (1881, p. 36) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A P:1 E|A<A c>A A>c E>D|C>E A,>c d/c/B/A/ F<B|A<Ac>e {c}B>AF>A|E>e d/c/B/A/ a>cB>c| A<A c>A (F<A) E>D|(C>E)A,>c d2 (df)|(3efg (3agf (3acB (3ABc|A<FE>F A2A-|| c|ce-eg a/g/f/e/ bc|d>fe<c {c}B2 (Bd)|ce-eg a/g/f/e/ fd|c<eB>c A2 (Ad)| ce-eg a/g/f/e/ bc|d>fe<c B2 (Bd)|(3cba (3gfe (3dcB (3ABc|A<FE>F A2A|| P:2 A2 (cA) eccf|ecac B2(Bc)|AAcA acBc|AFEF A(aga)| A2 (cA) eccf|ecac B2 (Bc)|Aaga bcBc|AFEF A2A-|| d|ceef ecce|[g}a2{g}a2 bgae|ceeef eccb|cABG A2 (Ad)| ceef ecce|{g}a2{g}a2 bgae|ceeea gbdb|cABG A(aga)|| P:"To finish" cABG A2 Az!Fine!||
WILLIAM YOUNG'S BEST MALT. AKA - "Wm. Young's Best Malt." Scottish, Strathspey (cut time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCD. "Wm. Young's Best Malt" was composed by Alexander Deas. Purely speculatively, the tune may be associated with The Grange Distillery, Fife, first established as a brewery in 1767, and then a distillery in 1786. The Grange produced a lowland style of whisky, very light and very delicate, and was linked to a local family, the Youngs, who owned the farm on which it stood. The Grange was also thought to be the first distillery in Scotland to use a Coffey still, which was installed in 1883. Invented by Aeneas Coffey, this modified continuous column still made it a cheaper and more productive way to distill alcohol. Whisky historian Alfred Barnard visited The Grange between 1884 and 1886 when he was traveling in Scotland. He noted the sheer scale of production for the time, stating that the distillery was producing 650,000 gallons of whisky - between 6000 and 7000 litres a week. And that it had 260,000 gallons that had to be made under pressure of orders. The Grange continued distilling for 130 years.
