Cotswolds barley grower taps into growing whisky market

One Cotswolds barley grower has turned to supplying a local whisky maker with malting grain, attracted by a good price premium and producing for a nearby outlet.

This spring, Nick Bumford decided to start growing for the recently established Cotswolds Distillery at Stourton, near Shipston-on-Stour, with a 200t distilling contract for malting barley to make malt whisky.

So he drilled 30ha of the spring barley variety Concerto, which can be used for brewing and distilling, with his mainstay variety, Planet.

Nick Bumford

Nick Bumford

Malting barley is an important crop for Guiting Manor Farms, where Mr Bumford is farm director, with 280ha of winter and spring malting barley grown, and most of the crop going to Avonmouth docks for export.

Sustainable production

However, growing for a nearby outlet fitted the philosophy of sustainable food production at the farm based at Guiting Power, some 10 miles east of Cheltenham

“I really liked the idea of producing something that can be used locally, and the provenance that brings,” says Mr Bumford.

See also: Hampshire malting barley growers push up yields

He was initially not keen to complicate management by growing a small tonnage of older variety Concerto rather than the higher-yielding Planet, but then saw the advantages of producing for a local user.

Mr Bumford was asked by Nick Roberts of Gleadell if he would be interested in growing the barley for the maltster Muntons, which was looking for a grower to supply the new distillery.

The farm also fitted the brief given to Pete Robson, Muntons’ general manager of malt sales, by distillery owner Daniel Szor.

“The distillery had been seeking to optimise the quality, consistency and alcohol yield of its distilling malt. But Daniel not only wanted very high-quality barley – it also needed to be grown locally in the Cotswolds with due regard for the environment,” says Mr Robson.

Low-nitrogen barley for distilling use

Although the Cotswolds Distillery malting barley contract is for a maximum 1.6% grain nitrogen, grower Nick Bumford believes he can hit that and produce a reasonable yield of spring barley.

“We usually aim for 1.85% nitrogen contracts, applying about 160kg/ha to higher-yielding varieties such as Planet. We need to feel our way with the Concerto in the first year, most of which is following grass, so I’ve applied just 125kg/ha of nitrogen,” he says.

“I understand it is a fairly low-nitrogen variety anyway, which will help. We planted at a high rate of 380-430 seeds/sq m using variable-rate technology to ensure a good plant count,” he adds.

Newer spring barley variety Laureate is likely to replace Concerto as the contracted variety next season. Its Recommended List fungicide-treated yield of 107% is 11 percentage points higher than Concerto’s, and will allow Mr Bumford to push output harder.

“It will be more attractive to grow another variety that yields in line with the rest of the spring barley area,” Mr Bumford says.

Gleadell’s Stuart Shand says Laureate has all the credentials to be the next Concerto, but with improved agronomic benefits.

Conservation work

Having achieved widespread recognition for its conservation work, the farm was an ideal fit, while Muntons also shared the ethos of the grower and end user as far as sustainability was concerned.

Mr Bumford adds that economics have to stack up as modern, high-yielding varieties do well on the farm’s brashy Cotswolds soils, which run up to 850ft above sea level.

This was particularly important as Concerto yields 12% below Planet according to fungicide-treated yields in the AHDB Recommended List.

Malting barley yields averaged a respectable 8.5t/ha last season, almost 1.5t/ha above the farm’s five-year mean. With 60% of the area down to spring varieties, large tonnages could be traded and paperwork kept to a minimum.

“Although we take environmental responsibility very seriously, it has to reconcile with a good production system that returns a profit. The contract includes a reasonable premium, which hopefully will offset any downsides,” says Mr Bumford.

He hopes this contract may lead to bigger things, as the distillery and other businesses like it might eventually want more grain, while the farm has redundant buildings that could be turned into small maltings.

Muntons’ Mr Robson says this could be an attractive option, as craft distilling is a real growth area and craft brewing is increasing. Locally produced malt delivered in manageable tonnages would suit these smaller operations.

Stuart Shand, Gleadell sales director, agrees and adds that the rise of small craft businesses will see contracts for small tonnages growing rapidly in the next decade.

“We don’t have to treat all grain as a commodity. We can grow, market and process relatively small tonnages to suit individual business requirements and still leave a good margin for all those involved. It’s easy to sniff at 200t, but add these small contracts together and tonnages quickly mount up,” he says.

Cotswolds Distillery – a whisky story

The distillery started single malt whisky production in September 2014, and now produces about 57,000 litres of pure alcohol a year, enough to make about 175,000 bottles.

“We are very small, definitely in the craft distilling area, but it’s not all about size. I am a great believer in the ability to make very good whisky,” says owner Daniel Szor.

Mr Szor and his family had spent weekends in their Cotswolds home for several years, and the lure of rural living eventually led him to set up home in the area full-time and leave his 30-year City career in finance.

Already a confirmed whisky lover, the idea of making whisky came to him when looking out over fields of barley surrounding his house.

“I was transfixed. I wondered why nobody had got into whisky making in this area. It has heritage and romance – the place puts a smile on people’s faces,” he says.

With the backup of two well-known mentors – distillery production consultant Harry Cockburn and global whisky consultant Jim Swan – the idea of the distillery turned into reality, and whisky production began two years later at Stourton, on the northern edge of the Cotswolds.

Plans are already afoot to double production, raising demand for malt to about 1t/day. This is a step he is now happy to take, and Guiting Manor Farm looks to be a good fit as a supplier.

“Unlike most large distillers, for whom margin is key, it matters very much where our malt comes from. We are not selling alcohol as a commodity, we are selling a story,” Mr Szor says.


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