Peat-malted barley from the U.S. or Canada?

[schonfep]

I understand that in Scotland, peat is commonly used during the barley-malting process.

I was wondering if anyone might know if there is anywhere in the U.S. or Canada where local peat is used in the barley-malting process. I've tried doing some research online, but have been largely unsuccessful in finding any use of peat in North American whiskeys -- as it certainly looks like this is not a common practice in U.S. or Canadian whiskey production. Any peaty whiskeys I've found produced in N. America just import the pre-malted and peat-smoked barley from Scotland. But if by chance anyone could help direct me to any exceptions where they do use peat in North America, I would be very grateful!

Thanks for your help. This is my first posting so please let me know if I should be more specific or anything.

[cowdery]

The Glenora Distillery, at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, uses peat. While I haven't been there, I have seen large peat bogs in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

[schonfep]

Thanks for the lead. I gave them a call at the Glenora Distillery and talked with one of the head guys. He told me that they don't actually use peat from Canada, but instead import the pre-malted ('peated') barley from Scotland. Any other ideas?

another lead I got was from someone from the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association -- who told me:

We are not aware of any companies in North America that are -- at this time -- using peat in the making of whiskey. We do know that many years ago, there was a company out of Calgary, Alberta that used Alberta peat to make whisky. I believe it was through a company called Alberta Distillers Limited

I've been unable to contact anyone Alberta Distillers Limited or access their website - so I'm not sure if they are still in operation.

[TNbourbon]

Here's additional contact info for Alberta Distillers Limited:
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/app/ccc/searc ... eteProfile

[cowdery]

Alberta is owned by Beam Global (i.e., Jim Beam), but their web site has been inactive recently. You might try contacting someone at Beam Global.

I did see large peat bogs in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia but suspected at the time that they were primarily about the production of peat moss. I concluded this because the "harvesters" looked like gigantic vacuum cleaners and, when they were finished, there was just bare earth. However, I also concluded that it was possible there was peat production in Canada. Glenora's web site implies that they do their own malting (why else would they have a kiln?) but perhaps they combine their own un-peated malt with imported peated malt.

There is a distillery in Oregon that makes a peated malt whiskey but they too import their peated malt from Scotland. Why they thought that was a good idea is a whole different question.