Whisky Guide > Distillery Profiles > Miltonduff Distillery

Miltonduff - Innovation

As well as the distillery, the Miltonduff complex also houses the following departments: Laboratories which analyse process and bio-plant samples from all ADL malt distilleries; an engineering department; centralised warehouse management and the Malt Distilleries Technical Centre which provides technical and business back-up to the distilleries. These activities have led to several innovative processes being pioneered at Miltonduff.

In the 1960's a new method of heating the wash stills was introduced. Passing the wash through a series of heat exchangers (using hot water from the condensers) prior to charging the still would heat the wash to 75-80°C. Once the still had been charged, wash would then be drawn and passed through another heat exchanger where steam would heat the wash to boiling point. The vaporised wash would be returned to the still via a diffuser and in turn heat the residual wash in the still. This would continue until the distillation was complete.

The dangers of CO2 produced during fermentation are well known. Mesh flooring and good ventilation was the traditional solution. It was Miltonduff, which introduced CO2 extraction. The 18 wash backs are completely enclosed, with the CO2 being drawn off by extractor fans.