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Stand out and tell your story … with glass bottles to turn heads

By: Nick Kirk

01/06/2017

If there’s one thing that unites both brewers and distillers, it’s the need to differentiate their brand and ensure stand out on shelf and behind the bar to encourage purchase. Here, Nick Kirk, technical director from British Glass explores some of the latest techniques glass manufacturers are employing to help both brewers and distillers achieve this.

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Continuous distillation - Grappling with grain whisky production

By: Billy Mitchell

01/06/2017

This is the sixth article in the series to support those studying for the General Certifi cate in Distilling and builds on the previous article in the series around the batch/pot still distillation process. This type of continuous process is widely used, in various forms, in the production of whisk(e)y, potable neutral alcohol and non-potable fuel alcohol.

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The new age of gin

By: Sophie Atherton

01/06/2017

Sophie Atherton looks at the growing number of gin distilleries in the UK and considers the future of the London Dry Gin style. A visit to Sipsmith in London reveals details of its classic gin production method.

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Sensible sensory

By: Binod Maitin

01/06/2017

The importance of training sensory assessors for effective analysis of distilled spirits

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The IMPROMALT project: Bridging the malting quality gap between winter and spring barley

By: William Thomas

01/06/2017

Barley varieties recommended to growers by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) Cereals and Oilseeds change each year, especially in the UK, but what are the consequences of these changes in terms of malting quality? Maris Otter, the old winter barley malting favourite, was first recommended to growers in 1965 – and 2018 will be the 50th year since Golden Promise, the old spring barley malting favourite, was first recommended to growers.

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Scotching the fraudsters - Identifying counterfeit old malt whiskies

By: Elaine Dunbar, Gordon Cook

01/06/2017

Recent news stories of the ‘World’s oldest Scotch in new whisky watch’ and ‘Macallan auction sets new world record’ highlight the growing interest in collecting rare, single malt whiskies. Auction prices now range from a few hundred to many thousands of pounds per bottle; consequently these products have become a target for fraudsters who are selling what appear to be genuine old, rare whiskies that are actually relatively modern products.

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Building for the Future: Innovative warehouse design for effi cient maturation of Scotch whisky

By: John Conner, Andrew Forrester

01/06/2017

The ‘Angels’ Share’ in Scotch whisky production accounts for an average annual loss of two percent of all maturing stocks. This is a considerable fi nancial loss to the industry and also has implications for production and resource effi ciency. Dr John Conner and Dr Andrew Forrester of the Scotch Whisky Research Institute, describe the MATIN Project (Maturation Innovation), which examined how the design and construction of a maturation warehouses affects the internal environment – and how this in turn infl uences how much whisky is lost from the cask. The work was carried in collaboration with The Building Research Establishment (BRE).

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Potomac potables: Craft distilleries in the US capital

By: Dan Griffiths

01/06/2017

Of the lesser-known pieces of trivia concerning US president George Washington, one of the more notable is that he ran a successful distillery. It was in fact the largest US distilling operation of its day, producing some 11,000 US gallons in 1799. Situated just outside the capital, on Dogue Creek, a tributary of the Potomac river, Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate distillery produced unaged rye and corn whiskey, a common practice at the time.