The copper still, likely used to make whisky, would have been hidden away from the oversight of tax collectors after Scotland outlawed unlicensed distilling centuries ago Archaeologists and volunteers excavate the site in the Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve.   National Trust for Scotland Archaeologists in the Scottish Highlands discovered a fragment of copper with a spirited history. The piece belongs to a whisky still—a heating vessel used to distill the amber liquor—and it was found near a small stone hut called a bothy in the Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve . Researchers think the site was once a secret whisky distillery, active after Scotland banned unlicensed private distillation in the 1780s. “In the early 19th century, illicit whisky distilling in these hills became a real battle of wits between excise [tax] officers and distillers,” says Derek Alexander, the National Trust for Scotland ’s head of archaeology, in a statement from the charity.…