A handfull of barley used to produce the 1.3 million litres of malt whisky distilled annually at the Glenkinchie distillery in East Lothian.
Archaeologists have discovered 30 sites used to produce illegal whisky in Aberdeenshire and Wester Ross.
The illicit stills found at Mar Lodge and Torridon are believed to be from the 19th century.
Researchers used old accounts of excisemen to find the sites which were well-hidden in hills, deep in the countryside.
The stills produced whisky for smuggling, selling and stocking unlicensed private houses, known as shebeens.
Derek Alexander, head archaeologist at the National Trust for Scotland, said: “Landscape is absolutely key to the illicit distilling process – it provides barely and water as ingredients, and peat and timber for fuel, stone and turf to construct bothies.
“But also the more broken-up and rugged the landscape the less easy it is to find where the bothies have been built and where equipment might be stored or hidden.”
Mr Alexander believes that whole communities were involved with these illegal stills to spread the cost and minimise the risks.
Although 30 sites have been uncovered so far it is thought that hundreds more exist.
Archaeologists find illegal whisky stills in the north and north-east
