Wheyward Spirit Turns Dairy Waste into Liquor That's Way Cool

Wheyward Spirit is the brainchild of Emily Darchuk, a Portland, Oregon-based food scientist and entrepreneur. It is an unaged, sustainably-produced, specialty spirit that defies categorization into any of the other clear spirit categories. It’s neither vodka, nor eau-de-vie, as it’s not made from grain or fruits, or even any other kind of plant. Wheyward Spirit is made from whey: a dairy by-product of cheesemaking. During the cheesemaking process, curds and whey are separated. The curds go on to be cheese, the whey goes on to...well, that’s the problem Darchuk set about solving with a spirited solution.

The Problem of Whey

Prior to her life as the Founder and CEO of Wheyward Spirit, Darchuk was a food scientist and crop developer. “My role was translating consumer needs into tangible products,” she says. From this unique lens, and with a mind toward sustainability, Darchuk recognized a problem specific to the cheese industry. Whey, a relatively flavorless, but high-protein liquid, was being wasted in vast quantities by farms and dairy cooperatives that simply couldn’t keep up with the sheer volume of it. “For every pound of cheese produced, there are nine pounds of whey remaining, and about half of that is left stranded from the food supply, for no reason other than it’s not the core business and it doesn’t really have a market outlet,” Darchuk explains.

Some whey goes on to be processed into protein powder; some farms can recycle it to feed their herds; but more often than not this naturally potent liquid ends up down the drain. So Darchuk decided to create another market outlet for it: “I really asked myself—what can I do?—to not see this as waste but really bridge a gap in the food system,” she says.

Developing a Wheyward Solution

The solution was not just to rescue whey to convert its sugars into any old alcohol, but to create a product that not only made a difference agriculturally but one where you could taste a difference as well. The proof is in the pudding, (and speaking of pudding, no, there’s no trace of lactose remaining in the spirit,) and Wheyward Spirit has gone on to win several taste awards in its young life: a Double Gold Medal at the 2021 New York World Wine and Spirits Competition, as well as a 2021 Good Food Award.

“Understanding the whole system, to deliver something that people would love, was always kind of my mindset,” Darchuk says. “I wanted to create a spirit that’s really versatile, that added value to the consumer, and that wasn’t just another kind of thing, but one that reflects an important thought process of how we look at our food system.”

Partnering with several Northern California dairy cooperatives to collect whey, Darchuk’s approach not only sought to manage an overabundance of whey, but to address a sustainability issue in the alcohol industry as well. “Part of my ‘why’ behind starting the brand is really trying to make a sustainable difference in our sourcing, which is a big gap I saw in alcohol,” Darchuk says. “I always loved natural food products, and dairy, and things that were close to its agricultural source, because there’s an opportunity to really know where the product is coming from, and to add value to those consumers who care.”

A Taste of Wheyward Spirit

So how does this innovation and sustainable thinking translate into the bottle and the glass? “Our process is not to make a turbo base and strip all of that flavor out,” says Darchuk. “We’re creating an ecosystem that creates a nice, unique, signature flavor that we’re then concentrating and refining with our distillation process, which is different from that of a vodka; probably more akin with what you would do with a rum or tequila. There’s nothing we’re stripping out. Nothing we’re hiding.”

The resulting product is one with a certain weightiness, with rich notes such as lactones and vanilla, and easy sippablity similar to an aged spirit. The ethanol bite is somehow smoothed over such that you don’t get an alcoholic assault when you put your nose in the glass. Some wines go through malolactic fermentation, where sharper malic acid is converted to rounder lactic acid, and so Wheyward Spirit’s dairy-underlined aroma also becomes reminiscent of Chardonnay to certain noses. (Namely, mine.) The texture is robust and velvety with a natural viscosity—you can actually notice legs in the glass.

Darchuk recommends trying Wheyward Spirit in a number of different ways: “If you put it on the rocks with a twist of lemon, the flavor transforms into a little custardy note, and almost has a limoncello effect. So I love it with citrus because it’s a sweet treat without having to add any sugar.” Its natural body, in fact, allows for a reduction in sugar for just about any cocktail Wheyward Spirit features in. Wheyward’s website includes a plethora of interesting cocktail ideas, from its signature Waste Not Sour, utilizing another often-discarded product, aquafaba, to martini variations, and most appropriately, milk punches.

From a Double Gold Medal to a double meaning, Darchuk acknowledges her revolutionary approach with Wheyward Spirit. “I’m really proud to be a trailblazer in that space,” she says. “The other thing that makes Wheyward spirit, Wheyward spirit, is our wayward mentality—doing things differently for the right reasons.”