The Phantom of the Distillery

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What if we told you that there were two spirits at the Glenrothes Distillery? One that is rich and malty, and another that is slightly more… spectral. This is the legend of Byeway.

Before becoming a ghost, Biawa ‘Byeway’ Makalaga was a young boy in Southern Africa who ran into the legendary Major James Grant. This was a man from the other side of the tracks - the Scottish proprietor of the Glen Grant distillery - who had come to Africa for a little adventure.

Now, things get a little bit dicey. The traditional, sterilised, version is that when the Major came across Biawa, the boy was starving and orphaned, with little hope of survival in his native land. As an act of great philanthropy, he took the boy home to his Rothes distillery to act as his ward. But there is little to substantiate this, with every chance that Grant simply tore Biawa from his home and family to use him as a servant. Biawa literally means ‘stolen’, so he wasn’t exactly being subtle.

Once in Rothes, young Biawa became a pageboy at Glen Grant House, dressed in a fancy suit and a starched collar in what must have been a pretty heavy case of culture shock. He was educated locally and eventually conscripted into the British army to fight in the First World War. He was in the local football team when he was young, and remained a supporter for many years. He had become a staple of the community, and remained at Glen Grant House for most of his life. The Major even left it in his will that Biawa must be employed for as long as he is ‘obedient, respectful and sober’. He died in 1972, likely in his early 80s.

And then Biawa, who didn’t even like whisky, began to haunt Glenrothes distillery. How did this happen, with him living and working for Glen Grant’s proprietors for the bulk of his adult life? Well, he was buried in a grave that overlooked the Glenrothes distillery, and let’s not forget how well loved he was. Local mourners were probably looking for an excuse to bring Byeway’s gentle spirit back into their lives.

Or, following Professor Cedric Wilson’s far more rational assessment, the new distillery warehouse built in 1980 had damaged a ‘ley-line’. His suspicions were confirmed after he nagged the distillery into letting him visit, and they hammered iron rods into this ley-line. However nonsensical this may seem, Biawa hasn’t been seen since.

Whether Glenrothes was haunted or not, the story of Biawa is a fascinating one that is intrinsically tied to Speyside whisky’s folklore. Although it’s pretty funny that he only ever drank gin and tonic. Perhaps he was haunting the distillery to stop people drinking the whisky? I guess we’ll never know…

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