Spring/Summer 2008

In Scotland, spring barley sowing got underway in some eastern areas during the last fortnight in March. Conditions were dry but cold. However, with wet weather forecast for the end of March and into April, farmers with their eyes to the weather were out with the seeders and finished by the end of March.

The cold March and the wet conditions during April delayed germination of the seed in the ground and also hampered sowing in April. Sowing conditions in some parts of the country did not recover until late April early May and much of the northern crop was sown in early May. Dry warm conditions prevailed in May and much of this May sown crop did very little while some of the early sown barley was in need of moisture.

Looking at crops in early July, some of the well sown crops in the east central belt are looking very good  and Fife and Angus may be the best areas for 2008 crop malting barley. What all the crops need now, particularly after this week's rain, is plenty of sunshine throughout the grain filling period and no more rain till October.

The malting and distilling industries in Scotland continue apace albeit with some of the Islay distilleries having to curtail activity due to a shortage of water. Baird's Arbroath and Inverness malting are rumoured to be embarking on a 3 fold increase in production taking their annual production up to 90,000 tonnes. Most of the whisky companies are continuing with full production although there are 1 or 2 exceptions in the smaller units. Springbank have stated that they are ceasing production for 2 years due to the high cost of utilities and raw materials. Further, Glenmorangie has announced that they will be moving from their Broxburn facilities as they are withdrawing from the own label blended market  to concentrate on expanding their premium brands at Ardbeg and Glenmorangie. Glen Moray distillery in Elgin is to be sold as a going concern.

Glen Moray distillery is situated on the River Lossie on the eastern side of Elgin. The distillery still has the old saladin box maltings building which served as an experimental fish farm in the 1980s. All of the warehouses are traditional dunnage warehouses  and from time to time have had to endure flooding as the River Lossie periodically bursts its banks. It is a very genuine distillery taking its production waters direct from the Lossie and for many years boasted one of the industries very special distillery characters as managers in Mr Bob Brown. The writer (Harry Riffkin) remembers Bob Brown with great fondness and not a little fear and respect. Years later, after his retirement and at the Glen Moray Centenary dinner, Bob gave a wonderful speech with great humour demonstrating a hitherto unknown (at least to me) side of his personality.

New Year 2008

World cereal stocks are very low with an announcement in February that current available wheat stocks throughout the world are around 9 weeks supply at current levels of usage. However, the current demand for home cereals and barley in particular is not that high with most companies now well covered . Seed bed conditions for spring plantings will be a material consideration when estimates for the 2008 UK crop of barley are made. Good sowing conditions and the relaxation of the set aside rules may enable increased supplies of spring malting barley for 2008.

Spring barley varieties carrying HGCA full approval status for brewing and distilling are NFC-Tipple, Appaloosa, Cocktail,, Westminster, Oxbridge, Optic and Decanter. However, seed supplies are very short for anyone not already ordered. Quench and Publican have provisional approval only.

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The Spirit of Hven distillery in Sweden  is currently underconstruction. This will be a state of the art pot still distillery  which will incorporate attemperated fermentors, novel heat exchange processes for mashing and a closed loop refrigeration system for all the cooling processes including wort cooling, condensers and the fermenters. The distillery has been built entirely by Northern Fabricators of Elgin and was transported by road and sea to the island of Hven which lies midway between Copenhagen and the Swedish mainland. 

Northern Fabricators Stainless Steel Fabricators, Coppersmiths, Engineering.

Currently, NF's engineers are on site installing the vessels and pipework. Commissioning is due  in April with a formal opening scheduled for the second week of May. The distillery is part of the Backafallsbyn hotel and conference centre run by the Mollin family.

The Hven distillery has been uniquely designed so that all of the components are optimally sized for the production capacity rather than use existing design components that have been developed for larger units.

The distillery will make a range of products including malt whisky, gin, vodka and speciality distillates and liqueurs. A third essence stilll has been installed to allow the production of unique flavoured and aromatic spirits developed exclusively from the produce of Hven.

Their web site can be accessed at     Spirit of Hven - Skånes Whiskycentrum

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A number of new stainless steel tanks are currently available at less than half the new price. These tanks are 2.5 m high, 1.8 m internal diameter, with coned bottoms and tops  They are constructed in 3 mm 304 stainless steel and stand on 0.36m legs. They are ideal for fermentation vessels and will hold 5000 litres for fermentation. Some have cooling jackets which will facilitate attemperation. For use as general potable liquid vessels they will hold around 6500 litres. Enquiries to sales@tatlockandthomson.com

Malt prices have continued to rise with some small distilleries paying £475 per tonne for bagged whole malt. Pre-gristed malt in 1 tonne bags for small breweries and distilleries may be up to £100 per tonne dearer. Clearly, while the larger breweries and distilleries will have cover at lower prices, these high prices for relatively small deliveries of malt together with the cost of fuel for processing are going to impact on production. In particular, with small distilleries also having to pay a high price for scarce supplies of oak barrels, the viability of their continued production will depend on careful consideration of both today's and future prices for mature stock. New start-up distilleries with nothing to sell at present need to exercise extreme caution in respect of  both the current and future situation.

The grain distillers have far greater options available than the Scotch malt distillers since the former will be able to utilise other non-malted cereals in making up the biggest percentage of their mash bill.

The potential high pricing of Scotch malt whisky may allow a market gap for other brown spirits to exploit. In particular, brandies and mature rums might find themselves being pushed on in the market place.