Distiller's organic whisky toasts auld lang syne

Published on Friday 27 August 2010 17:17

IT'S a whisky that hasn't been drunk in Scotland for over half a century. But in a few months, a select few will be able to taste the national drink the way it was originally imagined.

• Master blender Ian MacMillan among the casks

Deanston Distillery, near Doune, in Perthshire, is set to produce 500 cases of ten-year-old organic whisky - believed to be the world's first aged organic single malt.

Everything in the whisky's production, from the barley to the bottling, has been certified by the Organic Food Federation, producing the type of whisky that would have been enjoyed in the years before commercial farming and pesticides were introduced.

Deanston master blender Ian MacMillan said: "We've turned the clock right round to make whisky the way it was made originally. There's been nothing added, and nothing taken away."

Even the casks - all of which previously carried whisky, bourbon or sherry, had to go through an intensive process to be certified organic. "The casks all had to be taken to a cooperage and de-charred, meaning all the charring inside the cask had to be taken away until it was down to new wood," said MacMillan.

"That meant that the new organic whisky wouldn't be touching something that had been non-organic. The casks were then re-fired and reassembled."

He continued: "Because of the de-charring process, the organic whisky has no influence of anything else. It's pure. It's got a barley sugar characteristic. It's very clean and light."

The distillery's stills also had to be cleaned, to meet organic standards, and the yeast has also been certified as organic, while all the barley used had to be traceable back to the field in which it had grown.

The whisky, which will go on sale in January, will be priced between 50 and 60. The distillery has produced just 3,000 bottles, which will be available in the UK, the US, Japan, Taiwan and some European markets.

The distillery laid down a quantity of organic whisky every year between 2000 and 2005, meaning there will be a flow of organic ten-year-old for the next six years. They returned to the process in 2008, using organic barley produced by a Perthshire farmer, and finished filling the casks for its 2020 ten-year-old single malt organic whisky last week.

Deanston describes itself as the "greenest" distillery in Scotland. It produces its own electricity, none of its distilling processes are automated, and no computers are used.

Distillery manager Callum Fraser says: "The whisky will appeal to people who believe in green ethics and are environmentally aware."

Although Deanston is believed to be the first aged organic single malt whisky on the market, other companies have produced young organic whiskies, including London & Scottish, which distils the Highland Harvest Scotch Whisky, and Gordon & MacPhail, which makes an organic Benromach Scotch whisky.A spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association said: "Provided the Scotch whisky law is respected, organic certification is possible and, whilst the market for such whiskies is small, we are aware that some distillers have been exploring the commercial opportunities."

Keir Sword, owner of specialist trader Royal Mile Whiskies, said: "There will be a difference in taste because of the process the whisky has gone through.

"It's very difficult with whisky to have trends because they've got to be planned so many years in advance, but there are probably other organic whiskies out there maturing that we don't know about yet. I would think certainly more distilleries will start doing it now, but it will be ten years before we see them. It's a good selling point."

Deanston hit on the idea a decade ago when the organic movement was first beginning to take off in the UK. Consumers were becoming more conscious about the use of pesticides in food and drink, and started to think more about natural farming practices and the effect consumption was having on the environment.

"The organic thing was really just hitting the market then and it seemed like the right thing to do - the right way to go," said Fraser. "Ian was a bit ahead of the game because a lot of people didn't catch on until a few years after."

The whisky itself is also a darker colour to the classic Deanston malt thanks to the re-charred wood that it has been casked in.

"The first whisky made in Scotland was distilled by farms - it was done with the residue once the farmers had grown their grain and kept enough for their cattle. The whisky was made with what was left and made into liquid warmed over the winter.

"That was the uisge beatha - the water of life. We'd be right in saying that back then there would be no fertilisers and nothing added."