Creating an new market opportunity for whisky by-products: challenges and opportunities

Dawn Louise Maskell, Jane White, Julio Traub-Modinger, Aboubakry Diallo, Paul Hughes, Alan Harper, Nicholas Willoughby

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

Abstract

Malt whisky is a product which inspires passion, creating an industry which is expanding both in terms of volume and, geographic location where it is produced. A consequence of increased production volume is the commensurate increase in by-products which contain significant amounts of protein, but are currently underutilised, and often perceived as a challenge rather than as an opportunity.
An opening presents itself to demonstrate better values for these streams; ideally this should be one which integrates into the local bio-economy. The salmon farming industry is also expanding, with an increasing demand for proteins to satisfy the nutritional requirements of their stock. The desire of this industry to diversify their protein base, and reduce their reliance on fish meal (produced from large quantities of wild fish) creates a higher-value market opportunity for the protein from distillery by-products.
The work presented discusses a sustainable process for protein recovery developed by Horizon Proteins at Heriot-Watt University. This process can be integrated into a malt whisky distillery providing an alternative end-route for pot ale with lower energy requirements when compared to traditional treatment technologies. The protein product is particularly suitable for salmon feed, providing a local, sustainable, reliable feed ingredient for aquaculture in Scotland.
This scalable process could be applied to malt whisky industry in other locations such as Japan or Tasmania and would add to the overall environmental sustainability of the whisky industry, while providing a new protein feed ingredient which can be matched to demands of the local feed sector.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2016
Event34th Convention of the Asia Pacific Section of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling - Westin Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Duration: 14 Mar 201618 Mar 2016

Conference

Conference34th Convention of the Asia Pacific Section of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CitySydney
Period14/03/1618/03/16
OtherVibrant Diversity - embracing the changing face of Brewing & Distilling

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