Centre of Sustainable Brewing and Distilling can build a new future of creativity and innovation

By Professor Gillian Murray

Brewing and distilling are vital to the ongoing health and prosperity of the Scottish economy. Scotch whisky exports last year were worth around £5.4bn to the nation – and £7.1bn to the UK as a whole – while brewing supports more than 8,000 jobs.

Our university, Heriot-Watt, has long played a significant role in this success. We have been leaders in brewing and distilling education since 1903, when lager pioneer Emil Westergaard was appointed as our first Professor of Brewing.

Professor Westergaard not only taught classes in our historic Chambers Street location, but led the way with unique research that pushed the boundaries of what brewing could achieve – paving the way for Edinburgh to become home to a host of flourishing breweries.

In distilling, Professor Ronnie Martin OBE, Production Director of United Distillers – the forerunner of Diageo – was appointed our first Visiting Professor. Together with United Distillers’ Dr John Philp, he introduced a new lecture module which paved the way for a course that offered practical training for Heriot-Watt students on distilling.

Heriot-Watt continued to push the boundaries further throughout the 20th century with academic courses backed by both industries and Government, and culminated in the founding of our unique and world-renowned International Centre of Brewing and Distilling (ICBD).

I’m proud to have recently announced that Heriot-Watt is entering an ambitious new chapter in its global brewing and distilling success story.

We have ambitious plans to build a brand new £35m Centre of Sustainable Brewing and Distilling, to drive both industries forward so they enjoy sustainable success for decades to come.

Some people may ask why we need a new centre. After all, our graduates are already extremely sought after in the industry, not just in Scotland but across the world. Our alumni are among the best entrepreneurs that brewing and distilling have to offer – including BrewDog’s Martin Dickie, Kirsty Black, Master Distiller at Arbikie Distillery, and David Wilkinson, Head Distiller at Edinburgh Gin.

We have transported our knowledge through students such as Ewan Wang and his new distillery business in Hawaii and Jialin Guo, Senior Blender at Laizhou Distillery in China, one of many talented alumni in the Chinese industry nurtured at Heriot-Watt.

However, industries never stand still. New challenges always emerge that disrupt the norm. You just need to look at the energy sector, and the impact of climate change, to see how it has dramatically shifted direction in an extremely short period of time.

Brewing and distilling is no different. They both need to adapt, to challenge current thinking through innovation, and do so by bringing together the best talent and minds within both industries to develop a future that can grow sustainably, rather than struggle through lack of innovation.

That is where Heriot-Watt’s influence as a pioneering force can play its part. To encourage and foster a fresh spirit of entrepreneurialism, creativity and innovation, we too have to be entrepreneurs ourselves – bold and ambitious.

That is why we have set the challenge of raising £35m to build a centre that unites cutting-edge research, advanced production testbeds, and sustainable industry solutions under one roof.

Through this centre, we can shine a light on new ideas, nurture further generations of talented students with their own fresh ideas, create and foster transformative new businesses, and help existing ones to flourish, and drive brewing and distilling on to new, fertile, economic ground.

But we must not only focus on research and innovation, we must also evolve a model that challenges industry norms and takes it in fresh directions that can sustain its vital importance as an economic force and source of skilled employment for generations to come.

The Centre for Sustainable Brewing and Distilling can be a focal point to develop new innovation clusters by bringing together the biggest and best industry people. Together, we can roll our sleeves up and use the centre’s ‘plug and play’ testbeds to converge our thinking, embrace flexibility – be it focusing on saving water, CO2, or using hydrogen in fermentation and distillation processes – and trial fresh innovations.

If the environment is right, if the pioneering, entrepreneurial culture is established, then great things can happen.

This is the future that our Centre for Sustainable Brewing and Distilling can build towards. Together, we can use it to establish a new pioneering spirit in brewing and distilling. Just like Professor Emil Westergaard did over a century ago.

To learn more about the Centre for Sustainable Brewing and Distilling, please visit https://www.hw.ac.uk/proofing-the-future