Bairds Malt's newest maltings in Inverness are now up and running and it should be running at full capacity from sometime this month.

This means the Inverness plant will need to procure around 74,000 tonnes of barley this harvest to reach its expected annual malt capacity.

The maltings took more than two years to construct, with more than 400,000 working hours and at the end of March it commenced the 'wet' commissioning of the malting plant, increasing the facility’s production capacity by 57,000 tonnes per annum. The upgrade follows the refurbishment of its Clova malting plant in 2021, in Arbroath, which increased production capacity by 22,000 tonnes per annum.

Vice-president of United Malt and UK general manager, Richard Broadbent, said: “Bairds Malt holds a proud record with the most recent malting plant investments in the UK. We built a new state-of-the-art maltings at our Arbroath site in 2010, providing high quality malt to meet increasing demand from Scotland’s distillers.”

“Expanding our malting capacity in Scotland means sourcing even more local barley – providing a home for grain grown on our doorstep and offering our customers the provenance that is increasingly more important to the whisky consumer,” added procurement director and Scotgrain general manager, Owen Southwood.

The first batch of malt produced at the Inverness plant in March was high-quality commercial grade, meaning it met the full quality specifications to supply customers. With commercial production ramping up through the end of March, Bairds expects to reach full production capacity in April.

Bairds environmental footprint has been a key consideration during the expansion. To ensure their water consumption was as sustainable as possible, it had installed an advanced membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis plant (AMBR and RO). This had the capacity to produce sufficient additional water for the expansion without generating any additional effluent volumes from the site.

Project co-ordinator, Isla Prentice, said: “Having been involved in the project from the beginning, it’s fantastic to see the dream come to reality. The AMBR andf RO plant is something we’re particularly proud of as the 57,000 tonnes per annum expansion will have no additional water or effluent impact on the local environment.”

“Malting capacity expansion in the UK has been long overdue as customer demand for quality malt continues to grow. We’re proud to be the ones answering that call and with particular emphasis on provenance which helps future proof our investment,” said Bairds commercial director, Alan Williamson.

Chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, Mark Kent, said: “Despite economic headwinds and other challenges, the Scotch whisky industry has continued to expand as demand for the product worldwide keeps growing.

"This has led to significant investment being made across the sector, from production through to tourism, which in turn supports jobs and growth in communities throughout the country, and of course contributes to the growth in Scotch whisky exports to more than £6bn in 2022.

"A strong supply chain is an essential partner in helping us grow and to achieve our sustainability and climate change ambitions. It is great to see an example of this strength and commitment in the expansion of Bairds’ malting facilities in Scotland,” he said.