TWO Cambus-based coopers had a unique opportunity to showcase the skills of one of Scotland's age-old traditional crafts to Prime Minister David Cameron this month.

Diageo's John Carberry and Brian Stevenson, both from Alloa, played a key role during a recent visit by Mr Cameron to the Cameronbridge Distillery in Fife by crafting a special cask which was used to mark the Prime Minister tour of the �105 million expansion at the site.

Mr Cameron marked his visit by hammering the 'bung' into the new cask - a ceremonial tradition in the Scotch whisky industry - which contained Cameron Brig single grain spirit produced using renewable energy from the site's new bioenergy plant.

Both coopers had the opportunity to update Mr Cameron on the strength of the coopering tradition and the important role the craft still has in Scotch production in Scotland before showing the Prime Minister the traditional tools to complete the cask by hammering the bung.

"Brian and I were delighted to be given the opportunity to talk to Mr Cameron about our craft and he was really interested to hear about the role coopering continues to play in the production of Scotch," said John.

"The guys at Cambus have made several unique casks for ceremonies like this for the company and they allow us to showcase one of the truly traditional Scottish crafts to a worldwide audience.

"Diageo has invested heavily on our industry and craft with the opening of our new �10 million site at Cambus in 2011 and you cannot fail to be impressed with the facilities at Cameronbridge which take the renewable element of the production process to a new level." Diageo has recently completed the �105million investment programme to expand Cameronbridge Distillery and to build the bioenergy plant - a global first in terms of combining renewable energy and water treatment technologies with the potential to make the distillery one of the world's most environmentally sustainable.

The distillery is a flagship for Diageo's ambition to drive environmentally sustainable growth. It produces single grain Scotch whisky which is exported to more than 180 countries around the world as part of Diageo's leading blended Scotch whisky brands, and helping drive UK export growth.

Scotch is Diageo's strongest performing global spirits category. Diageo's Operations Director East, Richard Bedford, said the continued strong growth in Scotch whisky sales around the world was delivering real benefits to some of the traditional crafts involved in the production process north of the Border.

"Diageo has committed �1 billion to a major expansion production in Scotland which will include building a new distillery, expanding existing distilleries and building extensive new warehousing capacity", he added.

"Part of that commitment to the business is expanding our apprenticeship programme so that these traditional crafts continue for generations to come and when you have the Prime Minister himself gaining one-to-one experience of the real art involved in Scotch whisky production it is a significant boost to those involved.

"Experienced coopers like John work very closely with the younger guys like Brian to pass on the tradition and when you hear Mr Cameron talking about those who work in the industry being proud of what they produce he is echoing the commitment our guys have to the industry."