Highland business named sustainable distillery of the year
The Tomatin Distillery Co Ltd has been named sustainable distillery of the year at the Whisky Magazine’s Icons of Whisky Awards 2023.
Its accolade was announced at the prestigious awards ceremony in Edinburgh on December 8.
The Highland distillery is famous for its portfolio of whiskies from brands including Tomatin Single Malt, Cù Bòcan Single Malt and premium blend The Antiquary.
Tomatin Distillery has been dedicated to protecting its craft, its environment and particularly its community, which is at the very heart of the Distillery. Many of the craftspeople working on site have been doing so their entire working lives – all working towards producing a wide range of single malts, loved across the world.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the use of non-fossil fuels are the cornerstones of the Tomatin Distillery and Scotch Whisky Industry’s efforts to make manufacturing more sustainable and support a low carbon economy.
In 2013 Tomatin Distillery became the first distillery in Scotland to install an environmentally efficient wood pellet fueled steam boiler for use in production. 80 per cent of production is biomass energy, the remaining 20 per cent is LPG which is utilised to make up the balance during periods of high demand.
In 2019 the distillery installed a weir to prevent over abstraction and ensure that the downstream water environment is healthy, in 2021 control valves were installed on the cooling system which has cut water consumption by more than half. Instead of using the draff (resultant from the mashing process) in animal feed, Tomatin Distillery now send it to a biogas plant to generate a green sustainable fuel which is then fed into the mains gas network. The local environment is protected from the effluent streams created as a result of the production process by spreading it to local land as a soil improver.
This year the Distillery invested in a partnership with Highland Tourism CIC, promoting sustainable tourism in the Highlands and supporting its key responsibility to the local community by protecting the local environment through conservation and sustainable practices to enhance the ecosystem resilience. The Distillery is working with fellow members of the Scotch Whisky Association towards achieving the ambitious target, for the industry, of having net zero emissions in our operations by 2040’
Stephen Bremner, managing director at The Tomatin Distillery, said: “We are aware that it is very easy to make statements about supporting sustainability and having a care for the environment but it’s actions that really count.
"We have watched the rapid growth of Highland Tourism CIC and believe their goals for the sector, the region, and world-class sustainable status will bring many benefits for the economy and the environment, which we are glad to support. We are extremely proud to be named sustainable distillery of the year at the prestigious Icons of Whisky Awards in recognition of our efforts.”
