Whey Spirit - The Way Forward?
With sustainability, zero waste, and circular economy food production at the forefront of distillers’ minds the world around, whey spirit is set to take an important role as a major “neutral” spirit in the years to come.
Whey is a by-product of dairy production, which is traditionally seen as waste, and is complicated and costly for farmers to dispose of.
Every pound of cheese produced creates 9 pounds of whey, and the wasteful effluent is a major problem for farmers.
Naturally, this makes Ireland the perfect home for whey spirit, with its world-class cheese production of 500,000 tons/Year generating 4.5 million tons of whey waste.
In fact, not only is Ireland the perfect home for whey spirit to grow in the future, it is also the birthplace of the spirit, which was invented in county Cork, Ireland, in 1978.
The How of Whey
As liquid whey is very dilute, a large quantity is required to produce spirit - approximately 1L of spirit at 40% ABV can be produced from every 18L of whey. Liquid whey is composed of approximately 95% water, and the remaining 5% is sugars (lactose) which is just enough for fermentation, and milk proteins which must be removed.
The proteins are first filtered out, to begin the process, before some water content is removed by reverse osmosis. Then a complexed balance of specialised yeasts and enzymes are used to ferment the lactose to create the whey-based wash with an ABV of around 2.5% - this wash is then distilled to produce the final whey spirit.
The Uses of Whey Spirit
Whey spirit can be classified as Vodka, since Vodka may be produced from any product of agriculture. However, it must be noted on the bottle that the vodka has been distilled from whey, since any unusual sources (i.e. other than grain or potatoes) must be declared.
Whey Spirit can also be used as the Neutral Spirit base for Gin, or can be classified as Irish Poitín. Last but not least, Whey Spirit has, for years, been used as an economical staple in liqueurs such as Irish Cream Liqueur, to raise the ABV to the desired level.
WHY Whey
It has long since been established that Whey Spirit makes sense - the upcycling of food waste is genuinely meritorious, while also being very much “on trend” from a marketing perspective. The product is gathering momentum in the industry, and will likely continue to do so, further driven by recent grain shortages.
Provenance Spirits Group can provide the highest quality Irish Whey Spirit for any project, from I.B.C. format for export, to fully branded, bottled and labelled to your specifications, for your next venture.
Our Whey spirit is small-batch craft distilled at the very core of Ireland, to offer a velvety smooth neutral spirit, perfect for any expression.
