Scotch Bonnets deny Angels’ Share as idea from Inverness Caley Thistle FC's chairman could revolutionise whiskey industry by cutting down the amount of spirit lost through evaporation
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Inverness Caley Thistle’s chairman is behind an idea he believes could revolutionise the whisky and wider distilling industry.
For centuries whisky distillers have looked for a way to reduce the Angels’ Share – the spirit lost due to evaporation as the drink goes through the maturation process within oak barrels.
However Ross Morrison, the ICT chairman and co-founder of Broughty Ferry-based Scotch Bonnet, believes he has found the solution in a fibreboard cap which is placed on top of the barrel and which he has named Scotch Bonnets.
They absorb the evaporating spirit and, because they become damp, help keep the bond wet – when wood is drier it is more porous and it is easier for spirit to escape.
He said: “Our bonnet seems to keep the wood wetter for longer.”
So far there has been a good reaction from the industry though visible results are not available instantly.
Mr Morrison said: “It’s one of these things – it takes time because whisky and spirits take time to mature and people want to test them for themselves.
“It’s a slow burner but it’s gathering pace.
“It doesn’t do a lot in the first year, it’s not until the end of the second, coming into the third, that it actually starts to work.”
He added: “We are currently putting them to the four corners of the world at the moment.”
The idea has been showcased in countries including Mexico, Fiji, Finland, Ireland and South Africa.
“It works for whisky, it should work for bourbon and tequila,” Mr Morrison said.
“We are only wee, so it is a matter of getting out to as many as we can.”
From recent tests the “bonnets” have saved up to 5.5 kilos of cask strength spirit per barrel over a 42-month period.
For more information see www.scotch-bonnet.com
