Life Cycle Assessment of Single Malt Irish Whiskey: A Case Study in Ireland

The Irish distilling sector has grown exponentially in the last decade, with about 42 distilleries producing up to 110 million liters of pure alcohol (LPA) of whiskey annually. This study explored the life cycle assessment (LCA) of single malt Irish whiskey to gain insight into the environmental implications of whiskey distillation in Ireland by building on a case study from an Irish whiskey distillery. It also identified hotspots in the life cycle of Irish whiskey and looked at improvement options for the hotspots. ISO 14044 LCA methodology was used to develop the model of the product system. Primary production data was sourced from an Irish distillery, and Ecoinvent database was used to build the inventory using open LCA. CML-IA baseline was used for the impact assessment. Obtained results showed that global warming, acidification, and eutrophication potentials (EPs) were 2.26 kg CO₂ eq., 0.013 kg SO₂ eq., and 0.015 kg PO₄ eq., per LPA of whiskey spirit, respectively. Identified hotspots from the study were energy use (gas and electricity) and barley cultivation, with a cumulative environmental impact of approximately 90% of the overall impacts. Precision farming, utilization of organic grains, and very high gravity (VHG) brewing were some of the improvement options for environmental impact reduction. Application of these to the impact assessment resulted in global warming potential (GWP) savings of 1.7%–18%. An estimation of the environmental impacts at the sectoral level showed that the sector is responsible for approximately 250,000 tons CO₂ eq. emissions. Obtained results can form the basis for environmental impact monitoring and control for the Irish whiskey industry.