If a tree falls in the wood and it is used to generate energy, is it good for the environment? Forestry is big business, but how sustainable are the use of these resources for providing us with heat? The answer is, it’s complicated, and like everything in the misty world of sustainability there are different ways to tackle this question and different answers as well. So, in this blog we are going to try and debunk the myths and clarify the argument for and against using biomass as an energy source.

SETTING THE SCENE

We use biomass to produce heat, which means burning wood which comes from trees that have been planted for the purpose of harvesting. Commercial forestry plays a significant part in the Scottish economy and has also become synonymous with the Scottish landscape. What we are not doing is chopping down native broadleaf woods in and around the distillery to make whisky. On average we burn 260 x 3m logs a week (about 16 trees) which are chipped and transported 2 miles to the distillery. Trees take in CO₂  as they grow, they store carbon (as wood), and expel oxygen.  When be burn the wood, this carbon reacts with oxygen in the air and is released from our boiler in the form of CO₂ again. In Scotland, thankfully there are laws which means that replanting of trees is required after felling an area of land – this means we replant all the trees which are felled for our energy.

THE BENEFITS OF BIOMASS

Currently under government and European guidelines, the CO₂ that’s released when you use wood as biomass is classified as carbon neutral, because trees absorb CO₂ when they grow, and that ‘emission’ is accounted for when the tree is felled (not when the tree is burned)[1]. It’s important for the forestry sector to account for these emissions at source, so that it can keep a balance between trees that are growing and being harvested. So, when the Drimnin estate (where we source our trees from) replant and grow the trees that are felled, this virtuous biogenic cycle is maintained, reusing the power of atmospheric carbon over and over.

THE PROBLEMS WITH THIS

Firstly, there are other greenhouse gases that are released when we run the tractor to chip the wood, and then others when we burn the chip too – some of these don’t get re-absorbed through the biogenic cycle. This means that using biomass always creates some added emissions.

Secondly, we have an increasingly narrow window to stop adding to atmospheric CO₂ concentrations – Scotland is aiming to hit net zero carbon emissions in 35 years, whereas IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) have highlighted the coming decade as the timeframe for meaningful action to reduce our emissions. It will take a tree 10 years to start making a dent on absorbing CO₂ and then the amount that it can absorb every year increases significantly – until it is mature and then it’s felled. Being able to maintain this planting/harvesting cycle in a timely fashion is very important when thinking about carbon balances.  

Thirdly, in certain types of biomass there’s additional processing and transport emissions associated with biomass which could be huge. We are lucky to have access to local timber to provide us with our biomass energy, but there is increasing criticism around the use biomass for energy production, which is in part being driven by the fact that the process is classified as ‘carbon neutral’ and there are calls for its renewable energy status to be removed on the grounds that it is not sustainable.[2] As we have mentioned sustainability is all about context, and in the case of some power generation, the odds do not stack up. There are examples of biomass power stations the UK, and in North America, where this sustainability area becomes very grey because they are powered using wood pellets.

To make pellets, you must haul the wood chips to a processing plant, where the wood is dried, turned into dust and then reformed into pellets, all of which requires fuel, and then it needs to be shipped to its final destination, which could be a transatlantic journey!  

What this does is increase the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere for every unit of energy you get out of the wood. This study conducted in 2009 suggests that the creation and hauling of wood pellets from North America results in a carbon footprint that is 3 x higher than UK sourced wood chips[3]. This means to reabsorb the carbon that has been released you would need to plant 3 times more trees than you are using.

There is an argument that says that a strong biomass sector which is replacing fossil fuels will drive wide spread foresting projects because the price of timber will go up ‘the forest that pays is the forest that stays’ (as the forest consultant once told me) – but it could also mean that in countries where there is little regulation or where extraction is happening illegally, people use the high price of timber to capitalise on tree felling, and are not under any obligation to replant.

SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US?

Ultimately the planet doesn’t care whether the carbon that we released today has come from a tree or not, the point is that we have too much carbon in the atmosphere and to reduce that we need to make sure that we are sequestering more carbon than we are releasing, every year.

So, for biomass to wipe its carbon face every year there needs to be more trees planted and maturing than are being burned. We can’t be responsible for how all forests are manged, but we are lucky that on the Drimnin estate we can demonstrate that balance within the context of a full cycle of the tree.

What really will be the game changer here, is how soon technology for Biogenic Emission carbon capture and Storage (BECCS) is developed and rolled out across the industry for biomass power. This effectively would capture all the CO_2, from our boiler_, liquify that gas, and make it possible for it to be stored permanently, either in the earth’s bedrock, or cement, or in the ocean, so that every tree that is grown for biomass is instantly a carbon credit which makes meeting the urgent carbon goals A LOT easier.

[1] https://www.ceps.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/PI2020-19_Biomass-and-climate-neutrality.pdf

[2] https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/07/14/not-biomass-carbon-neutral-industry-admits-eu-reviews-policy/

[3] https://www.dropbox.com/s/3m5m3opcl9zd0um/3153-final-report-carbon-factor.pdf?dl=0

Hello everyone. This blog is for all those companies who are thinking of embarking on the B Corp journey. It covers why we think all business should go through the B Corp process and our top tips for embarking on it yourself.

A couple of weeks ago we announced we had been certified as a B Corporation, putting our planet, and all of us who call it home, on equal terms with profit. If you’ve not heard of it, the B Corp certification is awarded to companies who have met extremely high social and environmental standards, representing their commitment to goals outside of simply trying to make money. It is awarded by the not-for-profit organisation B Lab who believe all businesses can be a force for good. The B stands for 'benefit' and B Lab certifies in the way FLOCERT certifies Fair Trade products or the Soil Association certifies organic.

After coming out the other side of their rigorous process, we firmly believe that every business should go through the B Corp certification. Why? Well….

1. To become part of an increasingly recognised group of the most ethical and sustainable businesses in the world

2. To obtain a logo which clearly communicates to consumers that they are choosing a better brand

3. But most importantly, to put your business through an intense assessment to eke out ways you can improve both environmentally, ethically, and socially.

Our distillery was built with a promise to the environment, that we would always do our utmost to protect the planet. This meant that from the outset that B Corp was something we really wanted to achieve. But what we learned going through the process was not only ways to improve our sustainability processes, but the impetus to improve many other aspects of the business as well. 

That is because the process requires you to demonstrate not just what you do, but how you do it. Yes, we operate in an environmentally friendly way, but do we have clear targets to improve our performance over time? Do we communicate environmental performance to our board of directors? Do we ask our suppliers about their social and environmental policies and performance? For us, the answer to all these questions at the outset was no, so we had to put processes in place so we could get the points.

Below are some examples of what we introduced or formalised as a result of going through the B Corp process:

• Blind screening process for in-house recruitment, meaning that whoever reviews CVs for a role do not see any details of gender or race

• Measuring and reporting HR KPIs like gender pay gap (the difference between the average pay across genders) and gender diversity on our board

• Formalising our Environmental Management System, including a process for getting the whole team engaged in it

• Defining and regularly reviewing our environmental key performance indicators with the board

• Asking all our suppliers and potential suppliers about their environmental and social credentials. Getting them to think about things like carbon footprinting, sustainability reports, zero waste policies and much more. Essentially, passing on the sustainability baton!

The B Corp process really makes you think about your business holistically, and through its directed questioning gets you to consider introducing things to your business which are really great – some might be new ideas, others might be ideas you already had but didn’t know how to formalise or realise you hadn’t communicated to your team. 

Finally, if you are looking to put your business through what we think is an epic certification, here’s our top tips from our Head of Sustainability Amy:

• Give yourself plenty of time. The process is thorough to put it lightly, and if you think it’s going to be a quick win, think again.

• Be patient. When you get into the nitty gritty of the process, there are lot of things that need to be detailed and explained, when you talk about how your business operates. There may also be somethings that get lost in translation because some of the questions are based around American business culture.

• Be persistent. This process will require a lot of organising, documenting, evidence gathering and pulling together data to demonstrate that your company does what it says it does. Depending on whether you are looking to attract IBM* points in the process, this ‘evidencing’ phase can be very arduous.

*IBM stands for “Impact Business Model” and are areas where you can score higher points for specific and unique impacts that your business has. We found it was best to get our operational points (i.e. non-IBM points) as high as possible, and certainly over the 80 mark, before focusing too much on these areas.

We’ve also had lots of questions about how we did it. The answer is that Amy did almost all of the work, but we were also advised by John Featherby from Shoremount, who gave us invaluable advice about how the certification works, clarified things for us when we were confused and generally provided a steadying hand through what can be a long and winding road.

Historically speaking, cocktails have never been great for the environment. From shipping fresh produce around the globe to power hungry ice creation, there’s a whole host of associated issues silently hiding in the depths of that (undeniable delicious) Daiquiri. But with cocktails here to stay, how can we, as home enthusiasts or professional bartenders, make them less of a burden on mother nature? And can we even make them tastier in the process?

Let’s start with spirit choice. There’s a whole host of more positive distillation methods available to distilleries, so choosing brands that focus on green production is a good first step, and there’s examples of these producers in all shapes and sizes. The enormous global vodka powerhouse Absolut, for example, promote sustainable farming practices for their 400 plus farmers, and through tree planting they offset their emissions to run a carbon neutral distillation process.

Then there’s smaller brands like Avallen making big planet positive moves with their Calvados. The liquid in each bottle of Avallen removes 2.73kg of CO2 from the atmosphere when their apple trees grow their branches and roots. On top of this, they’re restoring the wild meadows at their Normandy distillery to promote biodiversity and bee populations in the area.

Handily, our Botanical Spirit, Avallen, and Absolut all work perfectly mixed with tonic water and a couple of dashes of aromatic bitters, a very easy start to your sustainable cocktail career!

ECO SPIRIT AND TONIC

• 50ml of your spirit of choice (Nc'nean Botanical Spirit / Absolut Vodka / Avallen) 
• 100ml tonic water
• 2 dashes of aromatic bitters
• Garnish with whatever you fancy, we've chosen grapefruit

But it’s not just the base spirit that needs consideration. All the other ingredients can be made more environmentally friendly with a little care and attention. Here’s a great example from Iceland’s Reyka distillery:

THE PUFFIN COLLINS

• 50ml Reyka vodka
• 20ml foraged elderflower cordial
• 30ml pink grapefruit juice
• 1 muddled cherry tomato
• Soda

Reyka is powered by geothermal energy like the rest of Iceland, and neighbours “The Friðheimar” also use this energy to grow tomatoes in what would otherwise be rather inhospitable conditions. This particular drink also uses wild foraged Elderflower, making the most of the natural flora near some of the team based in the UK. Foraging for, or growing your own ingredients, is a fantastic way to reduce your carbon footprint whilst still enjoying delicious drinks.

But instead of going out searching, what about ingredients you might already have going to waste around the house? The average UK household buys just under 40kg of fresh fruit per person each year, and then throws away 14kg of that, half of which is because it’s no longer considered “fresh”. This fruit is fantastic for making long lasting preserves with, in particular “shrubs”. This classic cordial style drink makes the most out of excess fruit and gives you a tasty secret ingredient to work into your cocktails.

Roughly chop your fruit, then add equal parts by weight of sugar to draw out the juices, and then vinegar (cider, coconut and wine vinegars work well), before filtering into clean bottles ready to store and use. There’s a simple recipe you can follow here. Once prepared, try adding a large dash to soda water for a refreshing non-alcoholic summer beverage. But if you’d like something a little stronger…

SHRUB SHRUB

• 50ml Nc’nean organic single malt
• 20ml pear shrub
• 100ml soda water

Finally, here’s an incredible suggestion from waste-product recycler extraordinaires, Discarded. They make a whole range of sustainable spirits using by-products like banana peel and cascara and encourage everyone else to do the same whenever possible. The below recipe makes use of spent coffee grounds, getting the absolute maximum out of the beans before they’re composted.

DISCARDED ESPRESSO MARTINI

• 30ml Discarded Chardonnay Vodka
• 20ml Espresso
• 20ml Spent Coffee Liqueur
• 20ml Discarded Cascara Vermouth

You can find a simple video on how to make both the spent coffee liqueur and drink here, along with a few other creative recycling ideas.

In a world where we are always looking for the ‘better’ choice for our planet, it can be easy to get in a muddle over what the best option is. Don’t worry, you’re not alone, and there’s good reason behind this.

There are three main avenues in sustainability. Reducing carbon (which causes global warming), reducing pollution from non-biodegradable materials such as plastic (which directly affects ocean life, wildlife, food chains and ecosystems), and improving biodiversity (which is directly affected by the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides). It might sound simple, but these three avenues often oppose each other, making consumer choices and business decisions a little tricky. Here’s why:

REDUCING OUR EMISSIONS

Our planet is heating up at a rapid rate. It is already 1°C warmer than it was at the turn of the 20th Century, and together we should be doing everything we can to prevent global warming going above 1.5°C to prevent the damage that has already been done from getting even worse. Even if we stopped emitting tomorrow, our past emissions would still create 0.2 degrees of warming per decade for the next 20 years. So the task we face is urgent and making changes is hard because everything we do in day to day life uses energy, from switching on the lights to buying takeaway food. For many years, this energy has come from carbon-based fossil fuels, and the intensive use of these cheap fuels is the sole reason global warming exists. So, the single biggest thing we can do to help halt climate change is to decarbonise our lives. Choose green energy tariffs, look into buying an electric car, and don’t support companies who use fossil fuels. Sounds simple, right?

If only it was that easy. For many years now, we have seen the invention of many amazing products that have revolutionised the way we live. Often these products are lighter, cheaper, take less energy to transport and most of all have a lower carbon footprint. The most famous of these is plastic.

PLASTIC EFFICIENCY AND POLLUTION

If you ignore the issue of plastic pollution, plastic is an excellent product. Take a plastic bottle - it is lightweight yet durable and strong which means that it’s a very effective packaging material, and per unit takes much less energy to manufacture and to transport compared to its rivals like glass. Many plastics are also widely recycled so have a long lifecycle if utilised properly, in theory making it an excellent low-carbon product. 

However the amount of plastic we produce is now so huge that recycling plants are unable to cope with the sheer volume, making plastic one of the largest pollutants on Earth (especially when it comes to the ocean). If you’ve watched any of David Attenborough’s recent documentaries, you’ll know what kind of effect it is having on marine wildlife, with creatures not only physically getting tangled in plastic waste, but fish, birds and sea mammals ingesting plastics too.

But what is the other option here? Well many people, including us here at Nc’nean, turn to glass as an alternative as it doesn’t have the same polluting effects as plastic. But the grass isn’t always greener – the carbon intensity of glass is really high, meaning the more glass we manufacture, the more we contribute to global warming. See, we told you it’s not easy! Luckily we are half way to a solution for this problem with our whisky bottles which are made up of 100% recycled glass. This reduces the carbon footprint of each bottle by 40%, a step in the right direction.

If you fancy learning more about glass and its impact on the planet, click here to read our interview on 'the truth about glass’ with head of sustainability Amy.

BIODIVERSITY, ORGANIC FARMING AND CARBON

Now, as if we haven’t made things complex enough so far, here’s the third part to the eco love-triangle – the carbon intensity of organic farming.

To give some context, organic agriculture exists to protect biodiversity. Biodiversity is the amazing variety of life on Earth which allows all parts of the planet to work together to keep it healthy. As an example, we need bees as a species as they are excellent pollinators of plants, and we need plants for food for both animals and humans. If we were to eradicate bees, we might experience widespread food shortages because many fruits and vegetables would not be able to grow without them. 

Organic farming protects biodiversity because it doesn’t use any artificial pesticides or fertilizers. These artificial ingredients help to keep pests away so plants can grow ‘healthily’, however many of them also contain harsh chemicals. These harsh chemicals kill insects, weeds, animals and aquatic life all of whom contribute to biodiversity and in turn make the world go round. We can hear you, let’s just ban the use of any pesticides, increase biodiversity and jobs a good’n. Right?

Well, as amazing as organic farming is, it can be more carbon intensive. Typically organic agriculture produces lower yields, so you are using a similar amount of energy to produce less crops. This is because some of the crops don’t survive on the way because they are eaten by our biodiverse friends (slugs, insects, rabbits) and are outgrown by other ‘unwanted’ plants and weeds. Lower yields mean you are using more carbon to produce the same amount of crop.

This sounds rather negative, but there are techniques which can be employed to help organic farming have a lower carbon footprint. Natural fertilizers/pest control and regenerative farming practices to name a few. We won’t go into them today since we’ve filled you with a lot of information, but maybe next time.

WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT ALL OF THIS?

Good question. We’ve just dumped a load of quite complex information on you without explaining how you can help. So, here goes:

1. Switch to a green tariff with your energy supplier, and if they don’t have one or it’s just too expensive, try a different supplier. We use Bulb, but there are many other awesome companies out there like Octopus energy or Ecotricity.  

2. Reduce all your packaging consumption where you can, and swap for reusable options. As you now know, it’s not as easy as swapping glass for plastic or vice versa, what about not buying that drink in a takeaway cup at all?

3. Don’t always assume glass is the best option. Look for recycled glass options as it is likely the carbon footprint will be reduced, ask companies if they are open to switching to more recycled content in their packaging and in their production.

4. Buy organic where possible. It's better for you and for our soils, and while it can be more expensive it helps us to waste less!

"The ‘perfect marriage’ of food and wine should allow for infidelity." - Roy Andries De Groot

I’m not going to argue against pairing food with wine. It’s delicious. It works. And whilst you can build an entire career around understanding how to best combine the two (and if anything, I’m rather jealous of those in that noble pursuit) the fundamentals can be picked up pretty quickly by anyone with a working nose and mouth.

Need to start proceedings with something to whet your appetite? A glass of dry Champagne will do the trick. Something bright to balance the starter? Grab the Picpoul. Gone heavy on the meat for a main? A tannin rich Cabernet will sort that out. And don’t forget about dessert of course! A little Sauternes should see you through. There we go, four courses down and our glasses haven’t even had to leave France. The diversity of wine, with its varying levels of acid, sugar and alcohol, makes it any easy place to start in the world of food pairing.

But wine isn’t the only beverage with this much versatility. And much as you change cuisine often to keep things fresh (unless you’re a green, hard shelled, martial arts specialist with a penchant for pepperoni), I’d argue that mixing drinks to match meals is just as successful with food, and even more rewarding when you get it right.

As long as you know what’s needed to compliment a particular course, cocktails can give you a whole world of flavour possibilities. To prove my point, below is an example four course meal, paired only with single malt whisky cocktails. And to really put my money where my mouth is, I’m only using classic French cuisine, the poster child of food and wine pairing. Wish me luck…

APPETISER - OLIVE TAPENADE CANAPÉ

Ideal drink traits - Light and dry

Drink - Whisky Six

Why? - It’s clean, dry and palate whetting. The salt in the tapenade will enhance the whisky, and the dry, bubbly nature of the drink will both balance the intensity and whet your appetite. The added bonus here is that mint garnish, who’s aroma contrasts brightly with the olive.

STARTER - SALADE LYONNAISE

Ideal drink traits - Bright and refreshing

Drink - Shrub Shrub

Why? - This is a longer drink, with a lower ABV and delicate flavours to match lighter food. The acetic acid, sugar and alcohol will enhance the salad’s flavours subtly, and pairing pear with bacon (whilst linguistically confusing) is always delicious.

MAIN - CONFIT DE CANARD

Ideal drink traits - Cutting, and equally rich

Drink - Otto Highball

Why? - Duck is fatty, salty and very rich. We need enough ABV to cut through that, and enough volume to last the course, with flavours to compliment. Duck and citrus are a perfect match flavour wise, and this drink is bittersweet to aid digestion. Being a simple “spirit and mixer” style drink, you can also play with ratio to find the perfect ABV and intensity for you.

DESSERT - CRÈME BRÛLÉE

Ideal drink traits - Strong and bright

Drink - Prince Edward

Why? - The dessert is creamy, sweet and rich, so our drink needs to accentuate those qualities whilst also offering a little balance. Nc’nean’s is both citrusy and creamy, a perfect compliment to the dish, and the contrasting citrusy profile is boosted by the other ingredients. The sweetness of the liqueur will also ensure the drink doesn’t stray too far in opposition to the Brûlée.

There we go, four courses down again, and whilst our plates haven’t left France, our glasses have gone on quite the journey. The important thing to remember here is a drink’s purpose is more important than it’s provenance, so I urge you all to experiment a little more and allow for a little culinary infidelity.

“Do you even drink whisky?” “How did you end up at a distillery?”

At Nc’nean, we are a predominantly female team, and these are just a couple of the questions we regularly get asked when chatting about our careers. The perception that whisky is a man’s drink still very much exists today - so on International Women’s Day we’re taking a look into why this is and what we can do to change it.

WHISKY AS A MAN'S DRINK: WHY DO THESE PERCEPTIONS EXIST?

Old leather armchairs, men propped up at smoky bars, glasses of golden liquid. A traditional perception of whisky which is still very prevalent. But where has this come from? Over a third of whisky drinkers in the UK and the US today are women, so why do we still get asked questions like the above?

Whisky has existed for a long time, over 500 years in fact. And for many years whisky served as a workman’s drink in male dominated industries. Having a high alcohol concentration, it was light and easy to carry and lasted for a long time once opened (unlike beer, cider or wine), making it a popular choice for workers like miners. This ‘workmans’ perception lead to early film imagery of miners, farmers and lonesome cowboys being pictured drinking whisky.

Interestingly, by the late 18^th century, records have found that American women were distilling at home, in addition to making clothes, baking bread and churning butter.(1) But it wasn’t long before the positive connection between women and whisky was broken. By 1850 it was common for prostitutes to legally sell whisky as a side hustle in the states, so many women didn’t want to be seen with the drink for fear of association. This, alongside the prohibition of alcohol in the 20’s, led to women being banned from drinking liquor at bars after the prohibition ended in 1933 due to the same connotations.

Since women were now disassociated with whisky, when early advertising and film began the drink was predominantly marketed to men, and this has never really changed. Rarely has a whisky advert on TV featured women drinking it, and stereotypes in TV series (like Mad Men’s Don Draper) has only shaped this notion even more.

INFLUENTIAL WHISKY WOMEN 

Ironically with all the male perceptions about whisky drinkers, nowadays there are plenty of women doing an awesome job behind the scenes in the industry. But it might surprise you to know there were a few women earlier in the 20^th century too who helped shape the industry today.

BESSIE WILLIAMSON

Bessie really was a woman of spirit. She was the only female in the 20^th century to own and run a distillery. When she began working at Laphroaig at the age of 29 she had no connection to the distillery. After a holiday on Islay in 1934 she applied for a summer job working as a shorthand typist(3) and after sticking around for a couple of months, she was promoted quickly through business to a managerial role. After the original owner died in 1954, the distillery was left in her name. A testament to her skill, hard work and commitment to Laphroaig.

RITA TAKETSURU

Though Rita was born in Scotland, she came to be known as the Mother of Japanese Whisky. Rita (originally known as Jessie Roberta Cowan) met her husband Masataka Taketsuru after he came to study the art of whisky making in Scotland. After they married in the 1920’s, they both made the long journey back to Japan and started up their own distillery, which then became major Japanese drinks business Nikka.(4)

WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP? 

Whether you are a whisky drinker or not, there are a few easy things you can do to help rebalance perceptions. If you’re a woman who doesn’t consider yourself a whisky drinker, we suggest giving it a try! If it feels a little daunting, then there are plenty of ways we love to drink whisky which don’t involve neat spirits. How about a Whisky Six, a simple whisky and soda, over ice with a sprig of fresh mint. A light, refreshing and easy-going serve.

If you are already a whisky drinker, male or female, then try encouraging your friends, male and female, to try whisky. Perhaps host a tasting, a cocktail evening, or just spread the word.

Finally, vote with your wallet. Don’t support people or brands who peddle these myths (for example, the sexist language in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, highlighted recently by our friend Becky Paskin). 

*(1) https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/05/women-making-whiskey-an-800-year-history/393260/

*(2) https://standpointmag.co.uk/features-december-2016-julie-bindel-whisky-women/#:~:text=In%20America%2C%20during%20the%20decades,female%20distillers%2C%20blenders%20and%20tasters.

*(3) https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/whisky-heroes/9386/bessie-williamson-laphroaig/

*(4) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-30682239

Our Botanical Spirit. Herbal, floral, perfect with tonic. Much like a gin in many ways, but quite different in others. More malty, earthy, and made from our unaged whisky spirit – something that’s not very common in the spirits industry. Plus, there are some quite strict rules on what makes gin qualify as a gin, some of which we don’t quite conform to.

SO, WHAT MAKES GIN, GIN?

RULE 1

Well the first rule is that gin must contain juniper. By law, it is the primary botanical which must be used when distilling gin, and it needs to be the predominate aroma and flavour. In some early iterations of our Botanical Spirit development, we didn’t add juniper, but the results in all honesty weren’t that great. In fact, we ended up tripling the amount of botanicals (wild bog myrtle, heather, thyme, sorrel) and adding the two main flavours of gin, juniper and coriander. The result was a deliciously complex, fruity, herby, and malty spirit. Juniper – tick. Predominate flavour? We’ll leave you to be the judge.

RULE 2

The next rule is that your raw ingredient used to distil the alcohol must be "Organoleptically suitable ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin". Basically, if it’s grown or made on a farm, it’s fair game. Typically grains like wheat are used, but people have been known to use potatoes, milk, or even apples. We use our 100% organic Scottish barley spirit, the stuff we use to make our whisky before we put it in casks to mature. Grown on a farm – so that’s a tick, right?

RULE 3

Well, the next rule, is that you have to use a spirit with a very high alcohol content before you re-distil it with your botanicals. This is where we differ. For gin to be called gin, it needs to start life as an extremely high ABV spirit (96%+) before you re-distil it with your botanicals. Our malted barley spirit comes off the still at around 71% which is too low for us to qualify as a gin. However, by not distilling to such a high ABV, we retain the spirit’s character and flavour. Fruity, fresh and creamy. Ideal for complimenting the flavours of our chosen botanicals, even if we can’t put “gin” on the label.

And so instead we named our spirit a ‘Botanical Spirit’. There is no official definition of a Botanical Spirit, but the name tends to refer to any spirits which use botanicals to flavour them. And though it’s not a “gin”, we treat it just like one when it comes to drinking it. Our favourite way is over plenty of ice, with tonic, a dash of bitters and a slice of grapefruit. A classic and refreshing serve, with a modern twist. But we also love to use it as a substitute in any classic gin cocktails that are easy to make at home – a Negroni is fabulous. Click here to buy a bottle or here to discover more ways to enjoy it in a cocktail.

There’s a lot of variety in the world of whisky colours, and an even longer list of evocative, descriptive terms for the amber liquid. But what does colour actually mean for your dram? And where does it come from?

Taste is subjective. That’s why in the wonderful world of whisky you’ll hear many people talk about the different ‘tasting notes’ they get from the same whisky. We know that this can sound a little daunting, especially if you feel like you’re the only one in the room (or zoom) who can’t pick out a specific flavour of ‘pine needles’ or ‘orange’. Although you shouldn’t worry too much (really you just need to know whether you like it or not), there are good reasons behind why some people are able to pick out certain flavours from whisky.

While taste is subjective, flavour compounds aren’t. They’re measurable bits of matter that exist in everything we can taste. Compounds like isoamyl acetate for example, taste like banana sweets. Ethyl caprylate, like pineapples. Cinnamaldehyde, rather unsurprisingly, tastes like cinnamon. There are thousands of these flavour compounds commonly found in your whisky, and using a fancy test (Google “Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry” for a rabbit hole of scientific fun) we can even pretty accurately tell you both what compounds, and how much of each are present in any given bottle.

So how does this objective information turn into subjective deliciousness? To put it simply, it’s all down to you.

How you perceive a whisky and its complex combination of flavour compounds, alcohols and water will vary depending on a whole host of factors. Firstly, in your ability to taste certain compounds. For example, people who think coriander tastes like soap tend to perceive compounds like aldehydes more intensely. Secondly your experience and history with certain flavours has a big effect. One persons vague “citrus” might be another’s “homemade bergamot marmalade”, it all depends on what those flavour compounds trigger in your brain.

There’s a whole host of external factors that can effect how you taste as well. Ever wondered how aeroplane meals can be simultaneously the saltiest and also the blandest thing you’ve ever tasted? The cabin pressure and loud noise of an aircraft will seriously effect your ability to taste, and whilst that’s an extreme example, everything from temperature, lighting, weather, even the colour of the room you’re sat in, can impact how something tastes to you. So when we’re talking about tasting notes, we’re really talking about what we think this tastes like, based off of our personal experience, as well as our general ability to taste and perceive flavour compounds.

Now the big question, where are all these flavour compounds coming from? What makes whisky taste like whisky? The answer, as I’m sure you can imagine, is wildly complicated, so we’ve made it a little simpler to prevent any nodding off!

1. BARLEY

Here’s where your grain characteristics are going to come from. Compounds like Hexanal and Furan are commonly formed in barley, which taste like citrusy grass and nutty caramel respectively. The malting process for barley can also develop and add more flavour. Reactions when drying barley can cause caramelisation and sweet, toasted flavours, and some distilleries dry with peat smoke, adding smokey and medicinal notes.

2. FERMENTATION

Yeast doesn’t just eat sugar and produce bubbles and booze. It also produces a ton of flavour in your whisky, most notably esters. Shorter esters like ethyl acetate taste like green apples, and ethyl lactate like butter. There are also longer esters that effect texture more than they do flavour. Ethyl palmitate, for example, can give whisky a waxy/creamy quality.

Different yeasts, fermentation times and temperatures will all produce different levels of these compounds, which is why we at Nc’nean have two different yeast recipes, designed for different lengths of maturation, and also why we run annual yeast trials, to discover new flavour possibilities in our whiskies.

3. DISTILLATION

This is a rather different category, as whilst some flavour compounds are formed here, distillation’s main role is actually to remove a lot of them. More dangerous alcohols like methanol, and undesirable esters and aldehydes are removed in the foreshots and feints (that’s the first and last liquid off the still). Finding the cut point between these and the good “heart” of the run is the skill of a good distiller.

4. CASKS

Maturation has a massive effect on the final taste of the whisky. Ageing spirit in oak barrels will add new flavour compounds, like vanillin (vanilla), cyclotene (caramel/maple) and eugenol (clove). The vast majority of Scotch whisky casks will also have been used for a different product beforehand, which will leave its own unique impression on the whisky, like our STR-Red wine casks tasting rich and spicy, and our Ex-Bourbon casks tasting sweeter and softer.

Maturation can also help other compounds develop or break down due to the influence of oxygen. An alcohol molecule can oxidise into an aldehyde, creating a new flavour, which can oxidise further into an acid, creating another new flavour, which can then combine with another alcohol molecule and form a new ester, creating yet another new flavour, yeah science! This constant development, along with more volatile compounds evaporating with the angels’ share is how whisky mellows and matures over time.

The result of all this complex development is a whole world of flavour possibilities in single malt, but also why the basic formula of malted barley, yeast, water and oak creates an unmistakable “Scotch” character. And that, very briefly, is why whisky tastes like whisky.

Glass: often deemed the more ‘sustainable’ option for being nontoxic and infinitely recyclable, but it’s not all good news. From carbon impact to recycled content, glass’s impact on the planet is not one to be taken lightly. To get into the nitty gritty about glass, we’ve been chatting to our sustainability guru Amy to find out the truth behind glass and how we can help to reduce its footprint.

THE GLASS VS PLASTIC DEBATE: WHY DO CONSUMERS TEND TO FAVOUR GLASS OVER PLASTIC?

Glass is often seen as a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic because we have a big issue globally with plastic pollution. This has mostly been driven by the disposal of single use plastic which tends to end up in our oceans, soils and in our food chain. Moving away from single use plastics is a good thing, but we need to recognise that not all plastics are bad, and that sometimes the alternatives are not always as green as you think. In fact, per ‘unit’, a plastic bottle has a much smaller carbon footprint than a glass bottle. On the other hand, glass is infinitely recyclable making it a popular choice from that point of view.

CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE CARBON IMPACT OF GLASS?

Glass is made in very large furnaces that create on average 300 tonnes of glass a day. They operate by being continuously heated in order to melt the raw ingredients (sand, limestone and soda ash) into molten glass which is then poured into moulds. The furnaces are never switched off – and in the course of one day natural gas is continuously burned to create the temperatures needed to melt the virgin raw materials, releasing 62 tonnes of CO2. On top of this we have ‘process CO2’, which is the emissions given off by the melting of the raw materials, which is approximately 185kg per tonne of glass. That’s an extra 55 tonnes of CO2 a day!

ARE THERE ANY ISSUES WITH DIGGING UP SAND TO MAKE VIRGIN GLASS?

I wouldn’t say that mining the raw materials for making glass is necessarily bad because they are very abundant. However, mining does have a physical impact on the landscape and surrounding environment as well as associated emissions of excavation that add to the overall footprint of glass. When recycled glass is created, you don’t have to mine for raw materials – existing glass is melted down and reshaped. 

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO MAKE RECYCLED GLASS?

It’s no more difficult to make recycled glass than virgin glass, but the issue in the UK is that we don’t have enough good quality recycled clear glass (cullet) to make clear glass bottles with high recycled content. At the moment, if you want a glass bottle with a high recycled content you need to get green glass. Dark glass is good, but that doesn’t work for a lot of products and brands – especially in the food and drinks industry where high quality, crystal clear glass (known as flint or extra-flint) is favoured.

The manufacture of flint glass in the UK is about 65% of the glass production, but a lot of that is exported in the form of finished products and actually what we have in our recycling bins are high percentages of green glass and brown glass – mostly because we import and consume products in these containers (think beer and wine). To add to the issue, we don’t recycle enough and we have moved away from using bottle banks and now have co-mingled recycling. You might think this makes it easier for you, but it means that the clear glass gets broken and mixed up with other colours, making it more difficult to separate and get a good quality of colour specific cullet.

If you look at any bottles on your shelf you will see they are very clear with no ‘tinge’ of any other colour and no blemishes. In the industry this is called ‘extra flint’ and generally required for all premium products. If you have one of our bottles, you’ll notice that it has a slightly green tinge and possibly some small air bubbles or blemishes. Allowing these small blemishes through the quality reviews means fewer glasses are rejected in the factory, further reducing the carbon footprint of each one.

WHY IS RECYCLED GLASS SO MUCH BETTER THAN VIRGIN GLASS?

The advantage of glass made from cullet (recycled content) is that it takes much less energy to melt down and there are no process emissions. Basically, emissions from glass go down as the recycled content goes up! This does depend on the efficiency of the furnace but as an example: every glass bottle we have made saves 0.5 kg (40%) of CO2 emissions per bottle compared making it from virgin materials. For the bottles that we will require in future we will save over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

WHAT ARE NC'NEAN DOING TO HELP?

Despite the fact that we are doing what we can, when we are at full production even our recycled bottles produce 36 tonnes of CO2 per year. To put this into context – to make our whisky which goes in those very bottles we emit 40 tonnes of CO2 a year. So, the next move is for us to reduce the number of bottles that we need to have made, and to do that we need to allow people to reuse and re-fill the bottles that they have already bought.

This requires two things... 1) You lovely lot getting used to the idea of refills 2) For us to navigate the maze of rules that dictate the bottling of Scotch whisky.

We would love to hear if you would be happy to buy your whisky in some kind of refillable, sustainable pouch, or get it refilled at a refill station. Please let us know in the comments if you would be up for it.

You might have heard that back in August we partnered with our friends over at Whisky Auctioneer to auction off the first 10 bottles of Ainnir, our first ever whisky bottling at the distillery. We donated all the proceeds to five charities who we think do a great job at making the world a better place. Read on for the story of why we did it and how we set a new world record.

WHY DID WE DO IT?

Auctioning special bottlings, first releases and very old bottles is the done thing in the whisky industry. There is a huge market for collectable whiskies. But this isn’t why we did it. We did it because in the time we’re living through, both Covid and the crisis our planet faces, we really wanted to find a good way of giving back. 

So, as a team we put our heads together to discuss which charities really meant the most to us, and which charities would most benefit from donations at the time. We threw lots into the mix, but as we weren’t expecting to raise nearly as much as we did, we decided to only pick five.

THE AUCTION

We had decided to partner with Whisky Auctioneer for the big day (well weekend actually), and as soon as they got wind of the fact we were donating all our proceeds, they too kindly offered to donate the equivalent of all their commission and fees from the auction to the same five charities.

The auction kicked off and we soon realised that we would be raising a little more than first anticipated, and as the weekend went on it looked like we might be heading towards a new world record price for the first bottle from a new distillery. The last couple of hours of the auction were (as always) the most exciting - the team spent the final 30 minutes on our Whatsapp group sharing ever growing disbelief at the prices going up and up! At the time of the hammer bottle #1 had reached an incredible £41,004. Four times the previous world record of around £10,000! Just as exciting, were bottles #2 - #10 which together raised more than the first bottle put together. With the addition of the donation from whisky auctioneer, the total auction raised £92,500, an amount that we never could have imagined. We are still in disbelief at the huge success, and are so excited to be able to give over £18,000 to each of our chosen charities.

THE FIVE CHARITIES

We think these five charities are awesome. If you have a minute, take a look at their work and consider getting involved!

Trees For Life
Trees For Life was an easy choice. Their mission to create safe spaces for wildlife and increase biodiversity is so in line with what Nc’nean is all about. And since they have planted nearly 2 million trees to date, we knew our donation would be put to awesome use with their tree planting projects.

The Drinks Trust and The Ben
Coronavirus has had detrimental effects on so many industries, but so many of our close friends in the hospitality industry have been hit hardest by the pandemic, so that’s why we decided to support the UK’s and Scotland’s top hospitality charities. The Drinks Trust and The Ben both do amazing jobs of supporting bar and restaurant workers across the UK and giving back to them at this time just felt like the right thing to do.

Morvern Community Trust 
The Morvern peninsula is our home and it's important to us that we support our local community. MCT do a great job of helping with local projects to support everyone in the area and were on our charity list from the very beginning before we even thought about doing the auction.

Scottish Farm Land Trust
We were looking for another environmental based charity that did something a bit different and came across The Scottish Farm Land Trust. The folks there help young people and new farmers take on small-scale ecological agriculture by purchasing land to be held in trust. Supporting small scale sustainable farming felt really close to our brand mission so we knew they would put our money to good use.

The humble whisky soda, you don’t need to go too far back in pub history to find a room filled with effervescing tumblers of the stuff. A delightfully simple combination of Scotch and soda water, maybe with a spot of ice and a twist of lemon if you’re feeling fancy, this unassuming drink was once a staple order in taprooms across the UK. In fact even today, spend an evening wondering the streets of Tokyo’s Ginza neighbourhood and you’ll soon find out the whisky soda is as alive and well in the hearts and glasses of many. 

So what makes this simple combination work? Let’s start with the bubbles and a quick bit of terminology house keeping. All fizzy water is, is a mixture of water (obviously) and dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) so what’s with all the different names? Well the differences are subtle but very important, especially when it comes to mixing.

• Seltzer water - just plain carbonated water. 

• Sparkling mineral water - carbonated water with naturally occurring salts and minerals 

• Soda water - carbonated water with added salts and minerals

Sparkling water is generally contains lower levels of salts and minerals. It’s these salts that give soda water its name (added sodium compounds) and are the reason it works so well when mixed with whisky. Think of it as seasoning the drink, the same way you’d add salt to food.

Now that we’ve sorted the bubbles, we need to take a look at the whisky. The soda water is going to release and enhance a wide variety of flavour compounds, for better or for worse. Lighter compounds will be more perceptible, so short chain esters, aldehydes and phenols will get a boost. Great for fruity and floral notes, but those smokey phenols in peated whisky can become overpowering, especially when factoring in a lower perception of sweetness due to the drink being cold.

Another important factor is texture. Whiskies with great body hold up really well with soda, and this is usually down to long chain fatty acid esters in the whisky. When these are combined with soda water, you can get a fluffy, creamy texture in the finished drink. So how do I find one of these whiskies? Googling “Single Malt Scotch Whisky with long chain fatty acid esters” probably won’t yield many results. Time for some insider knowledge! Look for bottles that say “non-chill filtered.”

Chill filtering (literally getting the whisky down to 0°C and filtering it) removes compounds that could make a whisky look hazy in cool conditions, like sitting on a supermarket shelf for example. Great if you want your whisky looking clear, but not so great for our good friends the fatty acids. Bottles with “non chill filtered” will most likely still contain these texture boosting compounds, and should be your go-to for mixing with soda. Bonus tip, any whisky at 46% ABV or more won’t need chill filtering, so almost definitely won’t be. The higher ABV prevents hazing and also helps with flavour intensity when mixed with soda, win win.

Now that we know what we’re doing, allow me to whet your appetite with a few suggested serves:

WHISKY SIX

2 parts Nc’nean Single Malt

4 parts Fever Tree Soda Water

Pour gently into a rocks glass filled with cubed ice. Garnish with fresh mint.

THE FAMOUS ROCK FISH "KAKU-HI"

60ml Suntory Kakubin 43 (from the freezer)

190ml Wilkinson Tansan Soda Water (one full bottle from the fridge)

Pour gently into a small frozen highball glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon

Developed by Maguchi Kazunari, owner of Tokyo bar “Rock Fish”. It’s served iceless, so all the elements need to be kept as cold as possible before pouring (including the custom etched highball glasses he has made for this drink). Most impressively, the brand of whisky used was discontinued 20 years ago, but is now made and sold exclusively to Maguchi for this drink, which is great as he makes an average of 150 of these a day…

COASTAL WHISKY SODA

50ml Nc’nean Single Malt

100ml “Sea Silk” Sparkling Water*

 Pour gently into a rocks glass filled with a large ice block. Garnish with fresh samphire.

The “Sea Silk” Sparkling water adds seasoning and texture to the drink with the addition of Sodium Alginate, giving it a luscious mouthfeel and longer finish. Sodium alginate is usually taken from seaweed and is commonly used as a gelling agent in food.

*This is homemade, so you’ll need something to carbonate water.

“Sea Silk” Sparkling Water

500ml Mineral Water

5g Powdered Sodium Alginate

Blend the powder into the water until completely dissolved, then refrigerate for 2 hours. Carbonate to a high level and keep well sealed. Use within a day.