Originally reported by Junha Park, traditional liquor sommelier, Maekyung Media Group (Korea)
The by-product of traditional alcohol brewing known as stillage (called suljigaemi or jubak in Korean), is typically discarded as food waste in South Korea. However, amid growing concerns about environmental issues and resource circularity, this once-overlooked residue is gaining attention as a potential raw material for livestock feed, functional foods, and even cosmetics.
In Tasmania, Australia, stillage is now being repurposed to feed dairy cows — cows that in turn produce milk used to make cheese. It’s a virtuous cycle, and at the heart of it is a rising star in the whisky industry: Greenbanks Distillery, which combines large-scale production, state-of-the-art automation, and close cooperation with local farms to realise a truly circular agriculture system.
Greenbanks is a new distillery capable of producing around 3 million litres of whisky per year — comparable to the total output of Tasmania’s 150 distilleries combined. What sets it apart is its built-in facility designed specifically to collect and distribute stillage directly to partner farms.
Co-founder Hugh Roxburgh explains, “Most distilleries in Tasmania are run as small family operations. When we established Greenbanks, we planned from the start to ensure that by-products like stillage could be reused.”
In contrast to the common practice of dehydrating stillage to reduce spoilage and transport costs, Greenbanks skips this step. The distillery provides stillage in its liquid form (which is more than 80% water) straight from the production process to local farms, eliminating the need for energy-intensive drying.
This was made possible through early collaboration with Bream Creek Dairy, a forward-thinking farm in the region. When Greenbanks first proposed the idea of feeding liquid stillage to cows, many farmers were sceptical due to concerns about feed system compatibility. To address this, Greenbanks conducted nutritional analysis and shared the data with the farm.
Today, Bream Creek Dairy is equipped with dedicated tanks to store the liquid stillage and uses a mixer wagon to combine it with silage and grains for feeding. This differs from the typical dry-feed model used in most Australian dairies. The farm currently raises 800 dairy cows, with plans to expand, and can accept up to 90,000 litres of stillage per day for immediate use.
Some people occasionally ask, “Wouldn’t feeding stillage to cows make them drunk?” But there’s no need for concern if you understand how distillation works. During the distilling process, nearly all of the alcohol is separated and extracted through the stills. The remaining stillage contains little to no alcohol.
John Slattery, Head Distiller at Greenbanks, explains:
“The stillage produced during distillation is stored at the distillery and then delivered directly to the farm, where it’s used as cattle feed. It’s not waste — it’s a high-nutrition by-product rich in protein and fibre that significantly supports livestock growth.”
Greenbanks even offers a unique tasting experience to visitors — pairing its Tasmanian whisky with cheese made from the milk of cows that were fed the distillery’s stillage. It’s a powerful example of how local grains → whisky → dairy cows → milk/cheese → tasting room snacks can form a closed loop.
The distillery runs 24/7 and uses around 10% of all grains grown in Tasmania, including barley, wheat, rye, oats, and corn.
This small but innovative model from Tasmania — where the warmth of whisky meets the richness of local cheese — shows how regional agriculture and distilling can thrive together in a sustainable food ecosystem.
Read the original article here.
