Barley

Just here for the bere Distilleries and breweries help to conserve ancient Scottish barley

Harvesting Bere at Orkney College.

With the release of two bere provide growers with a (pronounced bear) whiskies payment for growing the and a beer, 2014 was a good crop. From a rural devel- year for the appearance of new opment perspective, another major attraction drinks linked to this ancient was that the development Scottish crop. The of new products based on development of these products bere would provide col- laborating companies has been facilitated by Stacks of Bere at Harray in Orkney which won the 1930 stack- researchers at the Agronomy with an opportunity to building competition. (Orkney Library and Archives) Institute of the University of develop higher value the Highlands and Islands (UHI) products, benefiting the region, but at the at Bairds Malt in Inverness and then sent to same time giving them a vested interest in Lochranza distillery in Arran for distilling. based at Orkney College UHI. the crop’s survival. The spirit matured more quickly than that Bere is one of very few European from modern barley and there by Peter Martin and John Wishart, cereals with a tradition of being have been two releases of this as used for both milling and malting. a single malt – an 8-year-old in University of the Highlands The survival of bere in Orkney 2012 and a 10-year-old, bottled and Islands during the latter part of the 20th at cask strength, in 2014. This century was due largely to Barony early collaboration with Arran ere is a very old type of 6-row barley Mill, a nineteenth-century water- Distillers was important because Bwhich has been grown in the north of mill which has been growing it demonstrated ‘proof of Britain, especially parts of Scotland, for hun- the crop for many years to concept’ – that, in spite of its dreds or perhaps thousands of years – long produce beremeal for local antiquity, bere could still be suc- before plant breeders started producing bakeries and specialist food cessfully malted and distilled modern barley varieties. At the start of this stores. The mill provided the using modern methods. Most century, only small areas of bere were still Institute with its first few sacks importantly, it also demon- being grown on a few of the more remote of bere seed in 2002 and this strated that it produced a very Scottish islands and there was a risk that the was the starting point for the acceptable product. crop might be lost from cultivation. To avoid Institute’s work with the crop. Shortly after starting the this from happening, the Agronomy Institute The Institute’s first com- collaboration with Arran, the started a research and development pro- mercial collaboration with Institute developed links with gramme with bere in 2002. The main aim of bere started in 2004 in a Sonny Priest, owner of the Isle of Arran Distiller’s Orkney Bere this was to develop new markets for bere as it project with Isle of Arran whisky, released in 2014. The bottle Valhalla Brewery on Unst was realised that this would be the most Distillers to develop a spe- label shows James Foubister of in Shetland. The brewery is secure way of helping to conserve the crop cialist bere whisky. For Deerness in Orkney harvesting Britain’s most northerly on farms since the sale of grain would this, 19t of bere was malted Bere with a scythe around 1905. and Sonny was keen to

28 Brewer & Distiller International • January 2015 • www.ibd.org.uk Barley

Island Bere, a bitter ale produced by Valhalla Brewery in Unst, Shetland and brewed with malt made from Orkney-grown Bere.

Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay produces single malt whiskies in a wide variety of styles, using different varieties of barley, including Bere, as part of their exploration of terroir. develop a beer based on bere because of the which resulted in head brewer Rob Hill pro- cereal’s traditional association with ducing Scapa Bere. This is based upon one of Scotland’s Northern Isles. A small quantity of his core pale ales, Scapa Special, but replaces Orkney-grown bere was malted for him by Maris Otter malt with that of bere. Over the Crisp Malting Group in 2005 and in the fol- summer, the brewery was unable to satisfy lowing year Sonny released Island Bere demand for Scapa Bere and quickly ran out which has been a very successful core of malt. Further product development is product for the brewery ever since. scheduled for 2015. From 2006, the Institute has been The benefits to end-users of developing involved in an important collaboration with bere-based products are largely those associ- Bruichladdich, a distillery on the Rhinns of ated with using a unique, tra- Islay, which has been producing a core range ditional crop, still grown in of bere whiskies. The link started in 2005 the area with which it has when the Institute supplied bere to Dunlossitt long been associated. There Estate on Islay which then grew it at are also distinctive flavours Kynagarry Farm for the distillery. The associated with bere which quality of the new-make bere spirit was so are still being defined. impressive that the distillery approached the However, there are some dis- Bruichladdich Distillery’s Bere Institute in 2006 to help it source larger quan- advantages. Principal Barley 2008 whisky released in tities of the crop. The result was the develop- amongst these are the low 2014. Bere for this whisky was ment in 2007 of a supply chain in Orkney, grain yields – about half that grown in 2007, the first year that an Orkney supply chain produced managed by the Institute and including local of modern barley – and lower this crop for the distillery. growers. Each year since then, the supply alcohol yields, mainly chain has provided about 50t of bere which is because of bere’s small grain has increased from about 5ha at malted by Bairds in Inverness and then sent and higher nitrogen levels. Pump clip for Rob Hill’s the start of this century to about to Bruichladdich for distilling. This is a These factors make bere Scapa Bere released during 25ha in 2014. With reserves of summer 2014. major achievement for both the supply chain products more expensive to grain being held from one year and the distillery as bere presents plenty of produce so that they are always likely to be to the next by both Barony Mill and the challenges for both! One of the main issues targeted at niche markets. Here, Scotland’s Institute, the conservation of Orkney bere is for growers is the long, weak straw of bere Highlands and Islands are fortunate since more secure than it was, but there is no room which makes it very susceptible to lodging in many areas receive large numbers of visitors for complacency – as a succession of poor wet, windy seasons, making harvesting very each year – Orkney, for example, with a resi- harvests could still cause a drastic reduction difficult. For the distillery, the small grains of dent population of about 21,000, currently in seed stocks. Bere’s profile is, however, bere produce a very dense mash which has receives about 200,000 visitors. For many gradually being raised as new products are seriously challenged even Bruichladdich’s tourists, consumption of local food and drink helping to introduce it to a new range of con- robust Victorian machinery! Like Arran, products is an important part of the tourist sumers. It is hoped that this will result in Bruichladdich has found that its bere whisky experience and these are especially attractive further increases in demand which will allow matures quickly and, in 2012 and 2013, it if they are made from local ingredients which even larger areas to be grown. n released single malts from Islay-grown bere. have a traditional link with the region. The This was followed in 2014, by the first single reputation of the Highlands and Islands for n The author malt made from bere grown by high quality products, combined with its Peter Martin and John Wishart have both been with the Agronomy Institute at Orkney College Bruichladdich’s Orkney supply chain in unspoilt environment, is also a major advan- (UHI) since 2002. Peter is Director while John is the 2007. tage in establishing export markets for niche Institute’s Technician and manager of the bere Building on earlier successful collabora- products. supply chain operations. They can be contacted at tions, the Institute and the Highland Brewing As a result of the Institute’s development [email protected] and [email protected]. Company started a new bere project in 2014 work with bere, the area grown in Orkney

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