Can whisky go peat-free?

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Cutting peat is delicious – if you do it, old-style, with a spade, it comes out of the ground in thick slabs as dark and dense as chocolate cake. Carbon-rich and slow-burning, it’s been used to kiln malted barley for Scotch whisky for hundreds of years, imbuing the spirit with its signature smokiness. It’s also a vital part of the ecosystem. The International…