The Scottish whisky industry faces a critical shortage of one of its most important ingredients because of regulations preventing the extraction of peat, a bog owner has warned.
Peat is burnt and barley infused with its smoke during the malting process to create the distinctive flavour that has made Scotch famous across the globe. But the Scottish government has a target to restore 40 per cent of Scotland’s peatland by 2030 as part of its drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Neil Godsman runs the Northern Peat and Moss Company, which supplies two-thirds of Scotland’s malting operations with 3,500 tonnes of turf every year. His 300-acre peat bog at St Fergus, near Peterhead, will be fully excavated in the next decade, posing a problem for
