Adelaide’s Coopers Brewery is to help flavour Japan’s favourite whisky.
Waste yeast produced by Coopers during the brewing of its traditional ales is being shipped to giant Japanese distiller Suntory to help improve the flavour and complexity of its whisky.
Coopers managing director, Dr Tim Cooper, said a trial shipment of two tonnes of yeast was on its way to Japan in a special refrigerated container to ensure the yeast was still alive and in good shape when it arrived.
“We expect to follow this with a shipment of 20 tonnes in November and believe this will develop into a long-term arrangement,” he said.
“Coopers produces around 600t of live waste yeast a year and we are confident that Suntory will eventually take it all.”
Dr Cooper said that the yeast used by Coopers doubled in size during the brewing process.
About half of it was retained for future brews, with the excess disposed of under an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency.
The arrangement with Suntory provide Coopers with an economic return for this waste product, while providing substantial savings in disposal costs.
Dr Cooper said the live yeast was added to the “wash” which was distilled during the production of whisky and added complexity and depth to the flavour.