I OPEN this week with a terrible confession. I don't like whisky. I know: it's like saying you couldn't care less about how Andy Murray did at Wimbledon. Or admitting that you don't own any tartan clothing, have never attended a Highland Games and don't know the words to 'Auld Lang Syne'. Guilty on all counts, I'm afraid. But I may have to develop a taste for the national drink, in recognition of its ever-developing green credentials.
I did try it once, in a shop on the Royal Mile, where I was attempting to buy a bottle for that special someone in my life. The store manager refused to accept that a whiff of whisky would make my stomach churn, and plied me with samples. The warmin
g effect was impressive, but whisky-scented breath before noon didn't seem right.
Anyway, last month the Scotch Whisky Association (www.scotch-whisky.org.uk) announced an environmental strategy for the industry. How do you feel about strategies? I put them in the same category as letters to Santa: hopeful, but possessing no guarantee of success. But still, whisky companies have gallantly pledged to cut their use of fossil fuels by 80 per cent by 2050. This would mean an annual saving of over 750,000 tonnes of C02 – the equivalent of taking 235,000 cars off Scotland's roads. Other targets include reducing packaging, sourcing whisky casks from sustainable oak forests and maintaining high standards of water use and discharge management.
The proof will be the in the pudding (cranachan, obviously), but there are already signs that this is an industry taking environmental issues seriously. A joint project between the Combination of Rothes Distillers and biomass specialists Helius Energy is currently underway to create a biomass power plant. Woodchips and distillery by-products will be used to generate electricity, while a nearby plant will turn liquid waste into organic fertiliser. Meanwhile, although it may be closing its bottling plant in Kilmarnock, Diageo is working on a £65 million green-energy plant at its Cameronbridge distillery in Fife, which will convert the spent wash (wheat, barley, water and yeast) into solids and gas that will be used as fuel to power the factory.
Over in Dufftown, at the Glenfiddich distillery, a natural, gravity-fed ecological water-treatment system has been installed, resulting in effluent with residual copper levels of less than 0.5 parts per million – which sounds impressive to the layman. The system uses an area of ground planted with native wetland plants, which bind copper to their roots.
On Islay, at the home of Bruichladdich, Scottish-grown organic and heritage barley is used. The distillery also uses and processes it using Victorian machinery to produce artisan single malts, a good example of sustainable, low-impact production.
Beginning to get a warm glow without even sipping a dram? Keep reading. Makers of the Balvenie (www.thebalvenie.com) are asking people to sign up for its Sow the Seeds scheme, where free barley seeds are being given away – 1,000 people will be selected to grow them (in gardens, pots or window boxes) with a view to the crop being used to create a very special single malt. And yes, you will get a sample of the spirit you helped to produce.
There are still challenges that the whisky industry needs to tackle. Bottles are one example – the recycled content of clear glass is low (25 per cent) as compared to green glass (85 per cent), but one of the key selling points of a whisky is its colour. And that is why, I must remain unconverted to the whisky-drinking cause for the time being. Good excuse, eh?
