In Search of the Village Distilleries of Maramures
A Romanian Odyssey
by Ian Macilwain
This photographic portrait of the Village fruit brandy distilleries of the remote inaccessible northernmost province of Romania has taken the author five years to complete. He first went to the neighbouring province of Transylvania in 1968 on a Honda 50. After a career in Psychiatry , he has specialised in the photography of Scottish malt whisky distilleries , producing several books, of which the best known is ‘Bottled History’. He has found in Maramures a process remarkably similar to the family distilling tradition in Scotland which died out after 1820. The photographs capture the atmospheric interiors and the people who work in them. The author tries to distil the essence of this deeply traditional place before it disappears for ever.