A Canadian company is taking a modified form of milk, which would otherwise be wasted during the pasteurization process, and putting it back into various uses.

Canada has billions of liters of dairy products each year that farmers waste during the pasteurization process. Among other things, among these residues we find permeate milk, which an Ontario company decided to reevaluate by turning it into vodka.

“Today, when you make cheese or whatever, you remove the lactose and make another product called permeate. There’s not much use for this product, so I got the idea to reuse it and take out,” explained Omid MacDonald, CEO and founder of Dairy Distillery. Vodka from it.

“It’s vodka, we serve it in an old milk bottle, but it’s 40% alcohol. It’s crystal clear, but sweeter than regular vodka and a lot sweeter.”

The development of this dairy-based vodka requires technical and scientific research.

We worked with the University of Ottawa to find yeast that can eat lactose and turn it into alcohol. “After we had a successful result at university, we set up our own distillery in Ontario,” said Mr. MacDonald.

“We can work with Quebec dairy farmers to turn their surplus into alcohol, but also into ethanol for hand washing, or also for fuel in the car,” he said.

“Today in Canada we import 40% of our ethanol from the United States, and it’s made from corn. It’s a shame that you waste corn that you can eat, while lactose is something that humans can’t use,” the entrepreneur adds.

Vodkow will be available at the end of October on SAQ shelves for $31.85. You can also find Canadian cream alcohol without lactose, which is the only one of its kind in Canada.