THE WORLD‘S leading premium drinks business has given its nod of approval to recently-approved malting barley Troon.

Alan Macdonald, procurement manager for Diageo, said the variety is “very attractive” to the malt whisky distilling industry.

“Its large grain size and relative earliness in ripening will be of particular interest to growers who are committed to quality markets within Scotland,” he said.

“The variety is already set to command a significant market share within our procurement programme during the next year.”

Diageo expects to contract around 80,000 tonnes of malting barley from the 2005 harvest for specific malt whisky production at its sites in Scotland.

The Nickerson variety Troon, from the same stable as Pearl and Decanter, received full Institute and Guild of Brewing approval at the beginning of June.