"John Barleycorn, Thou king o' grain!"
wrote Robert Burns, who as a farmer, exciseman and enthusiastic
imbiber of the "guid auld Scotch Drink" recognised the
importance of barley in the whisky-making process. As did maltster
J P Simpson, who in 1866 set up a small malting business at Alnwick
in Northumberland, in part to supply distillers north of the border.
Today, Simpsons Malt Group produces in excess of
200,000 tons of malted barley each year – 65 per cent for
the brewing industry, 30 per cent for distilling and a token five
per cent shipped overseas. "Our market is firmly in the UK,"
says managing director Tim McCreach, "and that's how
we like it." Simpsons is still family-owned, the current
chairman representing the fourth generation to have worked in
the company, with a member of the fifth already seated on the
board.
Since the 1960s, the group's headquarters has
been at historic Berwick-upon-Tweed, which in border wars between
England and Scotland changed hands 13 times and is strategically
well placed to serve Simpsons' Scottish customers. The group
has three other maltings – in Norfolk, Yorkshire and Essex
– but the one at Berwick is by far the largest.
Simpsons is one of the suppliers of malted barley
for Aberlour. Until the 1960s the process of malting took place
at the distillery, the barley being spread and laboriously turned
by hand on the malting floor before being dried in peat-fired
kilns. Now it is a job for the specialists, who prepare the malt
to the exacting specifications demanded by Aberlour and ensure
that it is of a consistently high standard year after year.
This requirement for consistency begins with the
barley itself, which is grown on 25 Scottish farms, rigorously
selected and contracted by Simpsons. The barley is grown in fields
set aside exclusively for Aberlour, with the brand logo displayed
alongside the burgeoning grain for all to see. The progress of
the barley is closely monitored, and samples of the new crop are
analysed in the Simpsons laboratory.
The Scottish climate is ideal for growing barley,
the shorter season forcing the grain to develop more quickly and
doing wonders for the busy enzymes which convert the sugar into
starch (and then back into sugar during the whisky making). Best
for malting is the plump spring barley, rich in sugars but low
in the nitrogen that can inhibit the conversion process. Selective
strains have been produced to flourish in Scotland's boisterous
climate, the plumper seeds on shorter stems less likely to swing
in the bracing wind or suffer storm damage.
At the Simpsons maltings, the barley is left to
germinate slowly in a precisely controlled atmosphere. The grain
is constantly turned (these days mechanically) to ensure even
drying, sprouting and airing. After about a week, at exactly the
right moment, the natural process of germination is halted and
the "green malt", as it is called, is gently dried in
the kiln over a peat fire – adding a subtle new flavour that
will contribute to the whisky's individual character.
The barley, so carefully nurtured from seed to malted
grain, is transported by lorry to the Aberlour Distillery. There
it will be screened and further samples tested before it is finally
deemed ready to join forces in the mash tun with spring water
from the Lour glen. Meanwhile, in a field named Aberlour, the
seeds of John Barleycorn are being sown once again.
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