Most whisky fans will have at some point heard of whisky companies employing cats as a means of pest control in their distillery’s warehouses. So legendary are the stories of these feline ‘mousers’ that they’ve become an integral part of that distillery’s lore.
For example there’s the tale of Towser, who kept Glenturret’s warehouses free from mice and other nuisances for more than two decades. Her work was deemed so important she has been immortalised in a statue at the site and even had single cask whisky released in her honour.
Now another Scotch whisky maker has taken the notion of working animals and dragged it well and truly into the 21st century with their latest employee: a robot dog.
Bacardi-backed John Dewar and Sons is trialling the use of a robotic sensing kit to potentially detect small but potentially expensive ethanol leaks in their maturation warehouses near Glasgow. And this advanced bit of kit just happens to be shaped like a dog.
Well, maybe. Vaguely. If you’ve already had a dram or three and squint a little, we could see it possibly passing.
In what has been called a first for the whisky industry, the trial is supported by the Scotch Whisky Research Institute (SWRI) and the technology has been developed by The National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS).
To detect ethanol vapour levels, the ‘dog’ uses a sensor on a 3D-printed arm designed and created by NMIS engineers. It then follows a pre-determined path around the warehouse (it’s clearly a well trained wee thing if it’s allowed off its leash).
While this trial is focussed on whisky, a successful trial could seem similar technology being applied in other fields, such as the chemical and energy industries.
Angus Holmes, whisky category director at Bacardi, said: “Craftmanship and heritage remains at the heart of our production of Dewar’s blended Scotch whisky and our portfolio of single malts, but there is also great potential for innovation and technology to support the industry to become more efficient and data-driven.
“We’re proud to be playing our part to pioneer this new technology in the whisky industry and look forward to progressing from these trials to developing a live system that can be used at our sites in the future.”
Apparently the Dewars warehouse team have been delighted to have their robotic canine companion working alongside them and have taken to calling him Royal Bark-la, named after the group’s Royal Brackla single malt.
Ten out of ten, no notes from us.
This isn’t the first piece of dog-related whisky news this year. Back in July, a dog biscuit manufacturer faced some legal issues following their whisky-themed treat called Makers Bark (again, ten out of ten).
For more information on that story (as well as some of our own questionable whisky and dog puns), check out our previous article “Bourbon-Inspired Dog Treat Sparks Legal Dispute.”
