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This Distillery Has Hired a Dog to 'Sniff Out' Whiskey Imperfections

Scotland-based Grant's Whiskey has hired a cocker spaniel to do quality control of its products.
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This Distillery Has Hired a Dog to 'Sniff Out' Whiskey Imperfections
Image credit: Grant’s Whisky
2 min read
This article was translated from our Spanish edition using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.

Grant's Whiskey distillery in Scotland — belonging to the brand William Grant & Sons — has just hired a curious quality expert to detect imperfections in the barrels of its product. The new hire is Rocco, a one-year-old cocker spaniel, who will sniff the casks where the drink is aged.

As reported by Express, Chris Wooff, associate global brand director of the company, says, "The sense of smell of a dog like Rocco is 40 times stronger than a human’s, and we have specially selected and trained Rocco to pick up the scent of anything that is not quite right as the whisky matures."

According to the manager, Rocco will be able to detect that the whiskey is aging correctly in oak barrels since wood is "a natural material, and the distilling of whisky is an organic process."

Wooff stressed that, although the brand uses state-of-the-art technology to detect imperfections in their product, they also wanted to maintain the tradition.

Before taking office, Rocco had intensive training with an expert in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

"He is a working dog rather than a workplace pet, so we have guidelines in place to make sure he doesn’t get disturbed when he is taking a break between shifts, but the boost in morale has been a joy to see,” Wooff says.