Speaking at a recent press briefing hosted by Limagrain UK on growing for the distilling market, Roger Baird of grain merchants, W.N Lindsay highlighted the continuing demand for barley and wheat grain for distilling in Scotland.

“Whilst there is ample barley in Scotland to meet the distilling requirement which is about 900,000 tonnes, at present there is just not enough malting capacity, and this will only grow as demand for pot still and high DP malt increases from the Scottish distilling industry. Last year some of this malting deficit, about 100 – 150,000 tonnes, came from south of the border and a smaller amount of malt from the continent.”

 “With regards to wheat we are looking at about a million tonnes for the distilling market; we are able to supply 600,000 tonnes of this from Scottish growers which means that we will need to import about 500-600,000 tonnes which when added to our own production is well over the million tonnes required, but its worth recognising that a percentage of the home grown wheat grown will be hard biscuit or bread wheats, so not really suitable.”

“An additional factor to consider is that a couple of distilleries are now in a position to use maize, so how much capacity they will be able to manage is yet to be seen and that could alter the imported wheat tonnage considerably. “

There is an opportunity however to meet some of this demand however by choosing to grow varieties that are consistent and higher yielding across seasons, was the message from breeders Limagrain.

“Spring barley varieties such as Odyssey and Overture have set new threshold levels for yield,” says Limagrain barley breeder, Mark Glew.

“With the higher yields offered by these varieties – for example Odyssey yields 7% in the northern region and 6% nationally over the benchmark standard of Concerto - it gives growers a real opportunity to increase supply volumes without necessarily increasing the hectarages they grow.”

“And we have seen these yields stand up to the challenges of the past two very different and challenging seasons, so we know that the varieties deliver consistently.”

“This success of performance is reflected by the considerable interest in these varieties across Europe, as growers set their sights on supplying the Scottish distilling market. Both Odyssey and Overture are grown across more than ten countries – from France to Kazakstan – in fact Odyssey is currently the second largest spring barley variety in Denmark.”

“With regards to their certification for brewing and distilling, we are confident that CBMO approval will be reached before next spring. Odyssey has full approval for distilling and is in provisional 2 for brewing, Overture has provisional 2 for brewing and distilling.”

“It is important to recognise that all of the new varieties that are coming through on the recommended list have been rejected for distilling, so Odyssey and Overture really are the best options for growers who want to make the most of the opportunity to supply as much barley as possible to the distillers.”

Soft wheats are well suited for grain distilling, however according to Dr Steve Hoad of the SRUC, the best varieties for this market are those with a soft endosperm texture, high starch content and low nitrogen. “Distillers are looking for varieties with a medium rating for alcohol yield per tonne and should have low residue viscosity during processing.”

“Balanced against this growers want varieties that can deliver these quality distilling values but are also agronomically strong with stiff straw, early maturity, a low sprouting risk and robust disease resistance – in fact many varieties that have a ‘good’ rating for distilling are not grown because of agronomic weaknesses – such as late maturity or weak straw.”

Ron Granger of Limagrain is confident that varieties such as Horatio have shown a consistency of performance in terms of both yield and quality that will give growers confidence to grow for this market.

“Horatio was added to the 2012/13 HGCA Recommended List as the joint highest yielding soft milling wheat in treated trials. With Alchemy in its parentage, Horatio has similar quality grain characteristics.”

“The variety performed well in the difficult conditions of last year, and we are confident that it will do so again at this harvest demonstrating our breeding focus on producing consistent varieties that farmers like to grow,” he says.

“This quality high yielding performance has been recorded across several years, regions and rotations based on is sound agronomic make up – stiff straw, good Septoria resistance, and its suitability for a range of drilling dates from early through to late sowing.”

“With a medium rating for distilling, Horatio meets the requirements of distillers and growers, so it’s a really good choice to consider for this autumn.”