I read your article about the Stirling Distillery with interest (Green whisky? Scottish distillery tests eco-friendly aluminium bottles, 11 January). The marketing director of the distillery seems to believe that younger consumers could be motivated by promises of far better green credentials from using aluminium bottles rather than glass ones.
However, the production of aluminium at Fort William, in the Highlands of Scotland, is anything but green. The smelter there uses electricity part-generated by the Spey dam, diverted from the Spey catchment.
According to an independent report produced by the environment consultancy Envirocentre for the Spey Fishery Board, the River Spey, one of Scotland’s most iconic salmon rivers, is under pressure from overabstraction.
This dam is responsible for 66% of all water abstraction from the Spey. The dam also acts as an obstruction to migratory fish, including the salmon, which is now an endangered species.
Is it any wonder that the campaign to “release the Spey”, backed by the Spey Fishery Board, has called on the Scottish government to remove the dam? Speyside produces the best whisky in the world, and hopefully it will never be served from aluminium bottles.
Charlie Whelan
Member of the Spey Fishery Board
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