Glenmorangie to be tackled over 'Angel's Share' whisky fungus affecting properties near Brora maturation plant
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Properties sited near to a whisky maturation plant in an East Sutherland village are being affected by the “Angel’s Share”, it has emerged.
Residents living close to the Glenmorangie owned plant at the southern entrance to Brora say the exterior of their homes are becoming discoloured by a black fungus, caused by ethanol oozing from the thousands of casks in storage there – the escaping compound is known as the “Angel's Share”.
Shrubs and trees at the plant and surrounding area are also said to be turning black.
Now Brora Community Council is taking up the issue on behalf of residents and is set to approach Glenmorangie Company Ltd, which runs Glenmorangie Distillery in Tain.
The company is a subsidiary of drinks giant Louis Vuitton Möet Hennessy.
The whisky maturation plant is housed in the former Hunters of Brora Woollen Mill which was bought and converted to a bonded warehouse by Broughty Ferry based property investment company Kinburn 123 LLP around 13 years ago.
It has since been extended, with five steel-framed warehouses added to the rear of the facility in 2012 and the floor space almost doubled in 2016.
Kinburn, run by Durness native David Morrison, his son Ross Morrison and a colleague, originally leased the facility to Glenmorangie but sold it to the company in a multi-million pound deal last December.
Mr Morrison estimated that there were around 200,000 barrels of whisky in the plant at the time of sale.
Dudgeon Drive resident David Gunn approached Brora Community Council after black fungus showed up on the exterior of his home within a year of it being painted.
He said: “It does not take very long after you paint before it comes back again. It attaches to the woodwork as well. We have got decking in the back garden and it has attached there too."
Community council secretary Sandy Crawford said that, after hearing from Mr Gunn, he had taken a tour round the area and had spoken to householders.
“Everybody is in the same boat,” he said. “The fungus seems to be spreading and can be found on Dudgeon Drive, Seaforth Place and Uppat Place. Shrubs are turning black and dying”.
The community council invited Grantown on Spey-based industrial chemist Michael Taylor, who has developed an interest in the effects of the Angel's Share, to give a presentation at its meeting on June 20.
He explained ethanol, a volatile compound, evaporated through the pores of casks during the maturation process.When the ethanol combined with moisture in the air, it resulted in a type of fungus.
“It sticks to everything, it is incredible material. They have actually put this fungus into space and it can survive there. It is remarkable.” he said
Mr Taylor added that around 2.8 per cent of the contents of a cask evaporated every year. After 10 years, a quarter to half of the contents of the cask were gone.
He feels that not enough recognition of the fungal issue is taken when planning applications are lodged for whisky maturation plants or extensions to plants and he is lobbying for Environmental Impact Assessments to be made prerequisite for such applications and also for there to be more community engagement.
However, Mr Taylor said there were mitigation measures that could be taken to alleviate the problem.
“The implications are big for distillers. There are thousands of these plants across the country so they are not going to jump to it,” he said. “The distillers are abiding by regulations - it is the regulations that are wrong.”
Mr Taylor confirmed that he would be able to monitor ethanol levels coming from the Brora plant.
Community councillors agreed to approach Glenmorangie and ask them what they proposed to do about the issue.
It was also agreed to contact Highland Council to ask for action to be taken to require Glenmorangie to clean the blackened buildings at the maturation plant - a condition of the planning consent states that a programme of cleaning all buildings at the site was required to minimise visual impact.
A spokesperson for the Glenmorangie Company said: "At The Glenmorangie Company we take our health and safety obligations extremely seriously as well as ensuring that we behave as a valued neighbour and member of a community.
"We bought the warehouses in Brora in December 2022 having previously been a tenant at the site. These warehouses are well ventilated – as per the legal requirement for sites being used for whisky maturation. The warehouses will be included in a regular cleaning schedule going forward as we maintain our sites to the highest standards."
