Scotch Whisky Association said their research had found no link between the industry and the fungus

Residents near distilleries and storage facilities have raised concerns about the mystery fungus, dubbed ‘whisky black’, which is spreading over their houses. The phenomenon is said to be caused by microbes that feed on the ‘angel’s share’, the alcohol vapours that escape from wooden barrels as spirits mature. FREE NEWS UPDATES 24/7...FOLLOW THE SCOTTISH EXPRESS ON TWITTER It has been reported on brick, wood and metal surfaces near whisky warehouses throughout Scotland, as well as in Cognac in France and in Canada. However, the whisky industry does not accept responsibility for the mould and points to a similar blackening in Cornwall, where there are no distilleries. Residents near the Chivas Regal plant in Dumbarton have complained to local MSP Jackie Baillie about the fungus blackening the brickwork of their homes.

Now Ms Baillie, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, is to ask her fellow MSPs at Holyrood about similar problems in their constituencies as part of a Scotland-wide investigation. She told the Scottish Sunday Express: “People are prepared to coexist with the whisky industry and they understand it is important to the economy but also they need to protect the investment they have made in their property.” Ms Baillie said she recently met executives from Chivas Regal’s parent company, Pernod Ricard, and the Scotch Whisky Association. She added: “I don’t accept that this just happens to occur in areas of dampness.

“What people are asking for is a reasonable approach and some practical solutions, maybe something like a protective coating for their properties. They are not interested in compensation for the sake of it. “We need some hard facts and we need the whisky industry to come to the table positively, which I’m sure they will do.” Some homeowners in Dumbarton also want a study to examine any potential health effects of the mould. The residents would like to see a national compensation scheme set up by the whisky industry to pay for things like power washing and brickwork repairs.

Mother-of-one Margaret Darroch, 51, has lived next to the Chivas Regal warehouses with her husband Gordon for 10 years. “It has got a lot worse in the last couple of years,” she said. “The main concern for everyone here is to find out what is causing it. “It is on everyone’s mind that if this is what it does to buildings, then what are we breathing in? What are our children breathing in?” Neighbour Lenny Barlow, 38, an engineer, said: “A compensation scheme set up by the whisky industry would be a good idea but that will only happen if it can be shown they are to blame. “If we had known before we bought the houses that this might happen it might be different.”