This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
THINK TANK • 25 BTHE


ALE OUT


What would happen if – as was predicted at the end of last year – the barley harvest in Scotland


was disastrously poor? We put this scenario to a crop of experts


WORDS: BRIAN HENSON


barley harvest. A combination of excessive rain and a lack of sunshine led to fears that the harvest might not produce grain of suffi cient quantity or quality for distillation. Barley, of course, is the key to Scotch malt whisky. Scotch


L


whisky has a unique identity, and can only be made from barley, water and yeast. While the raw material cost is probably a fairly small percentage of the fi nal product price, the fact remains you can’t make whisky without the raw materials – and barley is the prime ingredient. In the event of a poor home crop, malting companies and


whisky producers would have been forced to try and fi nd barley CONTINUED OVERLEAF


THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY


ast autumn, distillers across Scotland – from the largest groups to the smallest independents – were holding their collective breath as rumours began to circulate that the country was facing the prospect of a poor


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36