Written by GABE TOTH /// Photos provided by ARDNAMURCHAN DISTILLERY
Scottish distillery taps into blockchain technology to improve traceability and accountability
GOING BEYOND CRYPTO D
espite the trends and headlines, blockchain technology is more than just cryptocurrencies and nonfungible pictures of monkeys. A small number of distillers are tapping into the potential of the technology to reinforce a message of traceability and verifiability. Out of the already small handful of entrepreneurs at the junction of blockchain technology and spirits, there are those that seem to be more tech-driven, such as Defi Spirits’ Bitcoin Bourbon — “Inspiring the future of money one drink at a time.” And then there are those who are tapping into the potential of an indelible public record to support their efforts toward improving sustainability and creating a circular supply chain. Possibly the first facility to put a record of their entire production line on the blockchain is Ardnamurchan Distillery in western Scotland, founded by the owners of the independent bottler Adelphi. The distillery was built in 2013 with an eye on how to make spirits in a more responsible way, according to marketing communications manager Jenny Karlsson. Some of that is simple environmental calculations, such as jettisoning the 58
box that’s de rigeur for so much of the global industry in favor of a simple bottle and label with a QR code. “In America, you’re used to that, but the rest of the world like their boxes and pendants and gold and blah, blah, blah,” she said. They reduce their potale (stillage from a stripping run) to a syrup, mix it with spent grain, and pelletize it for feed, and a local plant that relies on seaweed cleans their spent lees (stillage from a finishing run) to remove the acids and clean it up. The distillery has 138 solar panels to partially power operations, and one of their products even uses spent barley for the label stock. “The plan is to use this paper for our whole range. We tried it out and we love it,” Karlsson said. “We want to make whiskey in this remote area, but we’re trying to add value with everything we do.” The isolated nature of the distillery is also a factor in making environmentally friendly decisions. Ardnamurchan, named for the peninsula where it’s located, is not geographically
“What was attractive about the blockchain was the traceability and the transparency from the consumers’ point of view.” — JENNY KARLSSON
Marketing communications manager, Ardnamurchan Distillery W W W . ARTISANSPIRITMAG . C O M