The start of the process of brewing and distilling is making the malt: encouraging the grain to sprout and convert insoluble starch into fermentable sugars.

It’s mostly done today in large maltings but, says Hugh Alexander of Balnamoon Maltings near Keith, micro-malting opens the way for different types of grain to be tried, such as Orkney bere, and for smaller-scale specialist brewing at community-sized levels.

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