Responsible for marketing of the Famous Grouse for 15 years, the author is in a unique position to record the decline of the malt distillery and also to look at the remaining distilleries and explain why they survive today. The story is one of politics, taxation, social history, location, supply and demand, and sheer perseverance on the part of some. Full of photos of distilleries old and new, and with a wealth of new information on distillery, this is the story of the processes involved in the manufacture of Scotland's biggest single export.