Black Cow is the world’s first pure milk vodka. It is made in West Dorset using whey left over from the cheese-making process. According to Co-Founder Jason Barber, using milk as its only source ingredient is what makes Black Cow Vodka so smooth. He told Hannah Barnett more about what makes this innovative company so special.
ITis an exciting time to be at Black Cow Vodka. The company recently won gold at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition and has had plenty of recognition in the UK, where it won Best Drinks Producer at the BBC Food and Farming Awards in 2021. “It was our second gold at San Francisco,” said Co-Founder Jason Barber. “It’s impressive because the judges test so many vodkas, so for us to win is brilliant.”
Though humbled by recognition, Mr Barber remains confident about the strength of the company’s product: “To me, vodka is all about how it goes down. I recently travelled to Poland and stood in front of 50 barmen in each place we visited to pitch the vodka. And I would usually open by saying: ‘I know this is like selling ice to the Inuit.’ And they would say ‘no, this is very smooth. It’s not a counterfeit vodka’ – that’s how they put it: meaning it’s not made from potatoes or wheat. So, we are extending the category of vodka with what we do.”
There is no doubt Black Cow Vodka is an exclusive product. It is made with a copper still which infuses it with flavour. The vodka is filtered three times through charcoal and then hand-bottled and individually numbered for full traceability. Alongside the pure vodka, the company
offers an English strawberry flavour and a Negroni option, where it is blended with Campari, Vermouth and natural bitters. The company also sells Black Cow Cheddar Cheese made from the milk curds.
Whey back
In 2011, Mr Barber, alongside co-founder and artist Paul Archard, recognised the potential of producing spirits using whey, a by-product of the cheese making process. They envisaged combining the ancient Mongolian practice of making alcohol from
fermented milk, as practiced by Genghis Khan and his armies, with the Northern European tradition of high proof, clear,
clean vodka. The pair put their heads together and developed an innovative vodka made entirely from the milk of cows.
For Mr Barber, working with milk was the obvious choice. It is in his DNA: “I am a dairy farmer and my family go back many generations working as dairy farmers,” he said.
“We have grass-grazed cows – a crossbred herd – that are milked twice a day. And then that milk goes into making the cheddar. My family are the oldest cheddar cheese makers in the world.”
The vodka distilling process is straightforward. Milk, extracted from Mr Barber’s
grass-grazed cows, is separated into curds and whey. The curds are used to make the cheese; the whey is fermented into a beer using a special yeast that converts the milk sugar into alcohol. This milk beer is then distilled, treated, filtered and turned into vodka with a low mineral content, making the vodka very soft.
The benefits of a milk-based spirit are myriad. “It makes a very soft, very clean vodka,” explained Mr Barber. “And the joy of milk is that it is such a lovely, warm material. It's smooth, it’s creamy; and that's exactly what comes through in the vodka.”
Success and suppliers
Black Cow is now proudly the best-selling premium vodka in Great Britain. And with a capacity to produce 500,000 bottles per year from its West Dorset facility, the company has plenty of capacity to supply it.
This success has been accompanied by a growing trend in the sector. Black Cow was the first company to produce vodka from milk, but competition is growing.
“There are other vodkas out there made from whey that have emerged since we started ten years ago,” said Mr Barber. “But we are still the only one entirely made from milk. That's what makes our vodka unique. The high mineral content of milk makes it very soft, so it goes great with tapas or for sipping with cheese. And it’s very versatile. It makes a great Espresso Martini too, because it’s smooth and subtle, which carries flavours very well, and because its softness means a good
head on the drink, which hangs there beautifully in the glass.”
Black Cow is continuing its trajectory of growth by joining the beverage hub spirits portfolio of distributor Molson Coors. The deal, which will see Molson Coors exclusively distribute the brand variants Black Cow Vodka and Black Cow Vodka & English Strawberries in the UK, began in April.
“We are proud to collaborate with Molson Coors and are hoping to improve our distribution,” explained Mr Barber. “So now we're going to be very obtainable. That is alongside what we already have, which is our own website, and key accounts with Ocado, Morrisons and Majestic. We have found that the key to a successful relationship with suppliers in this sector is open and direct communication.”
Sustainable distilling
Because Black Cow Vodka is made from a waste product, the enterprise is very sustainable. According to current research, producing vodka from waste whey uses less water than grain-based spirits. It also
reduces CO2 emissions by lessening the environmental impact of cheese-making and distilling, because Black Cow is made from the leftovers from cheese making.
Environmental concerns are not limited to the vodka process itself but extend to the way the entire farm is run. “I do regenerative farming,” explained Mr Barber. “So I don't plough the fields, I overseed. Because every time you plough the fields, you are releasing carbon into the atmosphere. So, we inject seeds into the earth instead, and I put in a bloody great lagoon, which I use as fertiliser. I use the collected rainwater for injecting into the ground when it gets a bit dry in the summer.”
Packaging remains a challenge, as it does for many companies in the food and beverage sector trying to lessen their carbon footprint. The company has recently started producing 5cl miniature
bottles in aluminium, which makes Black Cow the first spirit to be sold in an aluminium bottle. The miniatures will also be used on aeroplanes and will have the bonus of reducing weight on the aircraft.
There is certainly a lot going on at Black Cow Vodka. But for Mr Barber, it is not the success and the awards that mean so much. “What I really like is meeting the bar staff,” he concluded. “There's so much talent that goes into filling a glass: it’s the same as a top chef filling a plate. Some of these people are very creative. And I really enjoy getting out there and having a drink with them. When you've been farming all your life, it's nice to get out and meet people.” n
