People know distilleries for creating delicious whiskey, vodka, and gin. But have you ever thought about what happens to the leftover grain?
Driftless Glen Distillery out of Baraboo has a creative way to dispose of waste while also helping local farmers. They describe it as “Grain to Glass to Farm.”
Nate Mahinski, the distiller at Driftless Glen, says they are a zero-waste distillery. Driftless Glen sources all of their grain locally in Wisconsin, working with the farmers for the start of their distilling process which gave them the idea to work with them for the end of the process, too.
“Anyone that is starting a distillery is going to quickly realize that one of the major obstacles is waste,” Mahinski says.
To combat this hurdle, Driftless Glen takes the 100 bushels of spent grain used in every batch and delivers it to local farmers to feed their livestock.
“It is a win-win for both us and the farmers,” Mahinski says.
Their liquid “waste” has a different story. They send the nearly 3,000 gallons of leftover liquid byproduct to be turned into renewable energy.
While using their 2,600-gallon tanks to fill 1,000 barrels a year, and up to 7,000 barrels currently in use, Driftless Glen is excited to celebrate their 10th anniversary while also getting ready to fill their 10,000th barrel. During these 10 years, Driftless Glen has been able to expand their operation and deliver their products to 20 states and four countries.
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