BEEF producers may be none too happy about it, but the advent of the first road-going car running on biobutanol produced from distillery byproducts at least means that whisky connoisseurs might find a pleasant nip in their next lungful of air pollution.

Edinburgh-based Celtic Renewables has been working with the Tullibardine Distillery in Perthshire to develop the fuel, which is made from the further fermentation of draff and pot ale, and can be used with no engine modification.

Its first official test-drive happened last week, and was reportedly successful, with the boozy car running no worse than a normally-fuelled motor, raising the very real prospect of a viable energy business arising from the 750,000 tonnes of draff and two billion litres of pot ale produced in Scotland annually. Which isn’t good news for the many beef cattle that prefer their draff chewed, rather than burnt.