The alcohol industry is thriving. Despite global economic downturns, one thing people are still doing is drinking. In 2019 the industry reached $515.2 billion, and regardless of Covid-19, the industry is expected to reach $647.7 billion in 2023 .
But there is more to consider beyond flavour and fun. Alcohol is an agricultural product: crops are grown, fermented and distilled to create the drinks we enjoy. Not only do we need to consider what agricultural systems are used to create these crops, but the process of creating alcohol (which usually involves cycles of heating and cooling) can be water and energy intensive too.
The global alcohol industry is a significant contributor to emissions, with food and drink manufacturers responsible for 5.8% of the worlds industrial global energy usage .
Just like food, alcohol brands can commit to regenerative, organic, local, non-GMO and sustainable farming practices. Huge industrial monocultures are destructive whether it’s for food or grain, so finding brands using regional products, organic practices, small supply chains and prioritising soil health will make a huge difference to products and planetary health.
Beyond the bottle, more brands are now opting for corks made from organic, recycled and biodegradable materials, printing labels on FSC certified paper and using organic inks/paints. While all of these details are small, en masse they add up to larger change.
Distillation creates large amounts of waste in the form of leftover mashed grain. Food waste is a major global issue, with 1.3bn tonnes of food wasted annually. The alcohol industry creates 42 million tonnes of spent grain each year, while distilleries can produce 12 times as much wastewater as the amount of alcohol produced.
Solutions have arisen, most notably as alcohol brands have stepped in to use spent distillation ingredients to create hand sanitiser, with many giving it away to local charities and initiatives. Some distilleries also partner with bakers and other producers to upcycle spent grains into items like sourdough bread, upcycled flour, and animal feed .
But there are also brands out there who are already trying to do better.
Launched in 2018, Discarded operates on a low waste ethos, taking ingredients that usually go to waste and using them in their premium spirits.
Their original product was sweet vermouth made with cascara, the outer fruit of the coffee berry which is usually a waste product from coffee production. In 2019 they launched a Caribbean rum that uses ‘finishing’ rum, which is usually thrown away after flavouring whisky barrels, infused with discarded banana peels (the fruit is dried out, fermented, and steeped in alcohol for two weeks) for flavour. In 2021 they also launched grape skin vodka, made with leftover grape skins from winemaking.
Copalli’s single-estate organic rum is made in southern Belize using filtered rainforest canopy water sourced directly from the distillery’s farm, yeast, and locally-grown, non-GMO organic sugar cane, with no added chemicals, flavouring or colours. The distillery is biomass-powered, any waste is reused in farming, and wastewater is filtered so as not to harm any ecosystems.
The distillery and farm is the largest employer in southern Belize, but the distillery has also been donated in trust for the benefit of the people in the Toledo District, while also providing educational grants to keep local children in school.
Black cow is a zero-waste brand (though not vegan-friendly) based in West Dorset. They only use one ingredient to make vodka: leftover whey from grass-fed cow’s milk from the cheese-making process. This whey, which is usually thrown away, is fermented to convert milk sugars into alcohol before it’s distilled, blended and filtered through coconut-shell charcoal.
Black Cow also have a specific strawberry vodka, made with locally sourced leftover or misshapen English strawberries that would otherwise go to waste and with no added sugar or sweeteners.
Toast Ale work with bakeries to make ale from unsold surplus bread that would’ve gone to waste. Bread is dried then used to replace about a third of the barley usually used to brew beer. Since launching in 2016 Toast has saved over two million slices of bread from being thrown away, donated nearly £50,000 to charity, avoided 42 tons of emissions, saved 250,000L of water and reclaimed 170,000 m2 of land.
In order to minimise emissions from transportation, Toast also doesn’t export. Instead, they partner with breweries around the world to produce beer with them, passing on techniques so Toast can be supplied locally around the world.
Greensand Ridge Distillery Greensand Ridge is a carbon-neutral distillery; it uses renewable energy, stores waste heat for later reuse, and uses local ingredients to reflect the nature of the area. For example, its award-winning London dry gin includes botanicals that can all be found within a mile of the distillery such as gorse and cobnuts. An organic pond aquatic habitat supplies their cooling water, they don’t use any non-biodegradable chemicals, and their organic waste feeds local boar.
Plus, they also work with farmers and food producers to source surplus produce deemed unsuitable for supermarkets, which they use to distil spirits.
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Greensand X Toast Ale Inbread Moonshine A sustainable alcohol collaboration! Toast ale was going to have to waste large amounts of unsold beer when ExCel London was transformed into a hospital during the pandemic. They teamed up with Greensand Ridge to upcycle this into another alcohol product. Distilling surplus beer has a rich history, especially in Europe. In the same way, the beer was expertly distilled into a refined spirit.
The result is Inbread Moonshine, an Eau-de-vie de biere with a 44% alcohol content. It’s a clear spirit, most similar to unaged whisky, which can work in drinks such as an Old Fashioned, Martinis, Bloody Marys or mixed with Ginger Ale.
Every bottle of Inbread Moonshine funds 10 hot meals for vulnerable families through a partnership with food waste charity Feedback.
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Gray Whale Gin Gray Whale Gin handcraft small batch gin distilled from botanicals to celebrate the migratory path of the California Gray Whale. Ingredients are sourced from sustainable organic farms or wild foraged, and the gin is distilled and bottled in California.
Gray Whale donates 1% of all sales to Oceana which works to end overfishing, particularly by helping bring an end to drift gillnets, which have been known to trap gray whales. The bottle also uses a 100% biodegradable cork and organic paint, and when you finish you can send the bottle back to Gray Whale and they’ll turn it into a candle for you.
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Flor de Caña Flor de Caña, who’ve been around for 130 years, were one of the first spirit brands in the world to receive Fairtrade certification in 2018. Their rum has been distilled using 100% renewable energy for more than a decade, and over the last twelve years they’ve planted 50,000 trees annually
Since 1913, the distillery has also provided free education for its employees (around 600 students are currently enrolled), and since 1958 Flor de Caña has covered its employees’ medical care. Plus, the brand has been the main donor to APROQUEN, a nonprofit providing surgery for child burn victims and children born with cleft palates.
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Foxhole Spirits Foxhole spirits create HYKE gin, distilled from reclaimed English-grown grape-skins. In its first two years this has kept over 5.2 million grapes out of landfill.
In 2020 they also launched Mad City Botanical Rum made from molasses, the natural by-product from processing sugar-cane.
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Nc’nean Botanical Spirit Nc’nean Botanical Spirit is made from the Highland distillery’s new-make malt spirit. It’s distilled twice before being distilled with foraged local botanicals (including bog myrtle, heather and sorrel), making it ‘not whisky, not gin’.
The distillery, on the west coast of Scotland, is 100% organic and runs entirely on renewable energy; using one-tenth of the carbon in comparison to a distillery run on fossil fuels and recycling 99.97% of waste. Wood chips from surrounding forests feeding the biomass boiler, while any leftover grain goes to feeding the cows and all the waste products are used on the fields as fertiliser. They use pure water from the source (many distilleries have to buy water in), and recycle excess heat by diverting it through their warehouse as a heating alternative.
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Cooper King Dry Gin Cooper King use 100% renewable energy and vacuum stills to reduce energy use and save water. They have a closed-loop system to reuse coolant water, they send spent botanicals from gin making to a local bakery to be upcycled into bread and pastry glazes, and spent grains from whisky production are used by local farmers.
They also use local ingredients and plastic-free packaging, with glass bottles that are lighter than the average bottle favoured by premium spirits brands. There’s a local gin bottle refill system (at a 15% discount) and they use recycled cardboard and biodegradable potato starch pellets rather than bubble wrap to ship orders.
They plant a square metre of woodland for every bottle of gin they sell, and so far they’ve planted over 10,000 square metres of woodland in the UK. They also keep bees, encouraging biodiversity and creating honey to use in their gin.
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El Tesoro Tequila El Tesoro Tequila is organic and additive-free. However what really sets them apart is that they compost all organic waste and let 5% of their crop flower to ensure future crops and save the endangered lesser long-nosed bat, which pollinates agave plants.
Most modern agave is cloned and harvested before it can reproduce, leaving the gene pool with minimal diversity and weakening fortitude. This puts the whole industry at risk, as a single plague could entirely wipe out agave. Bats are vital pollinators, so allowing 5% of crops to flower helps these creatures while strengthening agave.
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Ketel one The Ketel distillery in the Netherlands runs on renewable energy from a traditional dutch windmill and solar power, with any spare sold back to the grid. Groundwater is used for cooling during the distillation process, while heat generated from the process is stored and used to heat the building. Plus, solar panels power electric bikes used by staff.
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Adnam’s Since 1872 Adnams has produced beer, wine and a variety of spirits. They run on renewable energy and have a zero to landfill policy. Most of their waste is sent to feed cattle or an anaerobic digester where it’s transformed into energy. They’ve managed to reduce carbon emissions by 48% since 2008, and have halved water usage through rainwater collection and recycling systems.
Adnams also have their own beekeeper, Steve, who looks after around half a million bees at their environmentally-friendly distribution centre at Reydon, encouraging wildflowers to grow.
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Ramsbury Single Estate Gin Wiltshire based Ramsbury Gin is made with a closed-loop process. All byproducts and waste are put back into use on the farm: leftover wheat from gin and vodka production becomes animal feed, local forests provide wood to heat the stills before new trees are planted, while water is taken from a borehole on-site, then returned through reed filtration beds that help cultivate the wheat.
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Fatty’s Organic Female-founded Fatty’s is Soil Association certified organic. All ingredients are non-GMO and free from fertilisers, pesticides and chemicals, all botanicals are fairtrade, and every product is made in small batches in London.
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Greenbar Distillery Los Angeles-based Greenbar Distillery make the largest portfolio of all-organic spirits in the world, with 24 vodkas, rums, whiskys, gins, liqueurs and bitters. They plant a tree for every bottle sold, predominantly in Central America where the trees can provide shade for fairtrade coffee and cacao farmers. Plus, they reduce packaging waste and emissions through using lightweight bottles and 100% post-consumer waste recycled labels.
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Mezcal Union When Mezcal Union formed in 2008 there was no union for agave workers. So they formed one when founder Alejandro Champion entered the market and found that distillery employees and farmers weren’t getting a fair cut.
Today, Mezcal Union purchase from 20 small-scale unionised distillery partners (totalling over 100 workers), sharing a sustainable portion of income so the workers and landowners can continue to grow and be well looked after. Beyond this, the Casa Mezcal has also planted over 15,000 Espadín, Tobalá y Cirial agave plants to help diversify the gene pool and protect the lesser long-nosed bat, while also actively working to protect soil.
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Elephant Gin Elephant gin is produced in small batches in Germany. They use recyclable and sustainable materials including 100% recycled boxes, natural corks and hemp strings, while the gin itself contains rare natural botanicals.
With every full-size bottle sold, Elephant Gin contributes 15% of profits to elephant conservation charities.
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Lindores Abbey Lindores has made Aqua Vitae (the original name for Scotch Whisky) since 1494, and they still use the original recipe to handcraft this spirit today. All spirits are made and bottled on-site with locally grown ingredients, water is sourced from their borehole, barley waste is used to feed the cows at the farm where the barley is grown, and the Lindores Abbey preservation society raises money to preserve the abbey ruins for future generations.
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In The Loop In The Loop are the first company in the UK to sell a range of ‘all English’ vermouths, repurposing waste English wine into a range of vermouths that are flavoured with locally grown and foraged botanicals. Their premises are solar-powered, and they use biodegradable, recycled and reusable/recyclable materials for packaging.
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Silent Pool Silent Pool’s signature gin is produced using ethically sourced local ingredients and water from the Silent Pool in Albury. They utilise a steam boiler fired by sustainably managed local woods plus a second still fired by vegetable oil, reducing emissions up to 90%. They have a refill machine, created from an underused sill, and all organic production waste is redirected for electricity from methane or fertiliser. They also recently launched Green Man, the first gin to be sold in a paper bottle.
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Ogilvy Ogilvy are Scotland’s first potato vodka producer, taking low-grade potatoes that would usually be used for cattle feed and turning them into a premium spirit. Ogilvy’s potatoes are sourced a short tractor ride from where they’re transformed into vodka, and all production is undertaken on their own farm, resulting in a small-batch local liquor.
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Warner’s Honeybee Gin Warner’s produces a range of small-batch gins at Falls Farm in Northamptonshire. They use water from the farm’s spring, many of the botanicals are grown on-site, and the owners are working to become as self-sufficient as possible.
In partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society, their Honeybee Gin is created with 28 botanicals, 95% of which are pollinated by bees, and honey from Warner’s own beehives. A percentage of proceeds from each bottle is donated to the RHS to support their pollinator projects (they donated over £25,000 in 2018), and each bottle comes with a pack of bee-friendly wildflower seeds for your own garden.
Warner’s are also committed to resowing and replanting. So far they’ve sown over five acres of wildflower meadows in Northamptonshire, as well as running initiatives with local colleges and beekeepers to promote the protection of bees.
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Cotswolds Distillery Located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Cotswolds Distillery created the first-ever whisky to be distilled in the Cotswolds, using locally grown ingredients. They use solar power and plant trees in the distillery grounds, utilise heat harvesting including using heat generated from waste to pre-heat the next distillation and using excess heat from production to heat water, and use all waste from production to create bio-fuel.
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Fiorente Based in Piemonte, Fiorente’s distillery for elderflower liquer was the first to be certified carbon-neutral by Italy’s sustainability consultancy, Lifegate. They use biofuels to create the heat for the distillation process, and work to offset emissions through the purchase and protection of forests in both Costa Rica and Piemonte.
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Sapling London-based Sapling creates vodka with four times distilled 100% British wheat, using charcoal filtered, de-ionised water. Their bottles and cases are recyclable, they use a special screen-printing method on bottles that is much less energy-intensive, and they plant a tree for every purchase. There is a unique code on each bottle that tells customers what type of tree was planted and where.
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FAIR drinks FAIR drinks source fairtrade and organic ingredients from around the world, supporting the global farming community to make a range of spirits. These include Vodka from organic quinoa from the Andean mountains, Kumquat Liqueur, and Juniper gin. Their ingredients are all organic, gluten-free, vegan, non-GMO, and they aim to be plastic-free by the end of 2022.
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Misadventure This San Diego-based distillery used unsold baked goods from a nearby food bank to create its first spirit, Misadventure Vodka, aiming to improve food systems with delicious drinks. They’re also carbon negative.
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Demijohn Demijohn work to reuse materials and reduce environmental impact as a zero waste business. They source sustainable spirits from distilleries that operate in line with Slow Food UK principles. Customers choose from a wide range of spirits, and then select a Demijohn bottle, which can be sent back and refilled. All their mail packaging is also 100% compostable.
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Alchemy Distillery Based in Humboldt County, California, Alchemy make high-quality grain-to-bottle spirits. They use local organic grains and American-made distilling equipment, produce no waste during the distilling process, and utilise a 3,000-gallon water recovery/chiller tank to recirculate water. They collaborated with Los Bagels to produce a whiskey with old bagels, with 100% of the spent mash from the process going to feed local pigs (this batch sold out in 2019, but should be available in 2022).
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Bottle Bar and Shop All Bottle Bar and Shop drinks are made from all-natural, sustainably sourced seasonal fruit and herbs. Run by a husband and wife team, they personally infuse, mix, create, and prepare every single bottle, creating minimal waste and keeping their footprint low.
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Two Drifters Devon-based Two Drifters is the world’s first rum distillery to be designed entirely with the aim of removing more CO2 than they create. They run off renewable energy, cycle to work, have an electric van for deliveries, donate waste molasses to a local farmer, and use sustainable packaging. They also partnered with Climeworks in 2019 to remove CO2 from the air. Since April 2019, they have turned 7.58 tonnes of CO2 into stone and avoided 18.28 tonnes of emissions.
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Beeble Beeble began as a way to avoid wasting honey when extracting it from frame to jar. It started with one hive in North Wiltshire and now runs over 130 sustainable hives, each housing sixty thousand honey bees, combining their English honey with Scotch Whisky.
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Wildjac Wildjac creates botanical spirits with sustainably sourced ingredients and natural botanicals foraged from the Wyre Forest and surrounding areas. They use 100% post-consumer recycled glass, recycled labels and FSC-certified stoppers for their bottles, and they use recycled and recyclable cardboard packaging. Once you have a bottle you can order refills in recyclable pouches: simply decant, pop the lid on and mail it back to them to be recycled.
Each bottle also comes with a box of wildflower Seedsticks, which grow when placed in soil.
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Served Served is designed to be high-quality alcohol to match a healthy lifestyle, prioritising transparency in both provenance and nutrition. Unlike hard seltzers with artificial flavouring, they instead use wonky fruit sourced directly from farmers that would’ve otherwise been wasted, creating a fruity drink with 4% ABV and 0g sugar. Their cans are BPA free and recyclable, with all drinks produced on-site in Herefordshire. They’re working on creating a circular brand and supply chain, and pledge 5% of profits to environmental projects.
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Purity Brewing Purity is based out of a Warwickshire farm with a pioneering wetland water system. Wastewater from the brewery is filtered and returned clean to the local River Avon. They also use a heat exchange system which uses around 2.8 pints of water for every pint brewed (as opposed to the average of 5 – 8 pints) and increases yield from raw materials, reducing demand for resources.
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Avallen Spirits Avallen donate a portion of their revenue to charities that support and promote the protection of bees, and have also pledged to plant 10,000 wildflowers in the next three years to support bee colonies.
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Seven Bro7hers Salford’s Seven Bro7hers use rejected Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes and Coco Pops to make its range of upcycled cereal beers.
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Arbikie On the east coast of Angus, Arbikie is a Scottish field-to-bottle distillery. They use ingredients grown on their estate and water sourced from their own underground water source. Their gin, Nàdar, is also distilled from peas instead of wheat, barley or maize. Peas require no synthetic nitrogen fertiliser while improving soil quality by providing nitrogen for the next plants coming in the crop rotation.
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Løwlander Wit A rare alcohol-free brand to make this list, Netherlands-based Løwlander partnered with PeelPioneers to use reclaimed orange and lemon peels sourced from bars and restaurants for this Belgian style beer.
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Mermaid Gin Made in the Isle of Wight’s only distillery, Mermaid Gin uses certified plastic-free and recyclable packaging including sustainably sourced natural corks, compostable seals and recyclable neck labels. They have a refill exchange scheme for locals, while the gin itself is created from 10 ethically sourced botanicals.
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Sweetwater Brewing Company Outdoor guides often struggle financially; Sweetwater donates a portion of Guide Beer profits “help fund projects that positively impact the environment in guides’ communities.”
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Dog Point Vineyard Dog point have the largest number of organic vineyards in New Zealand, while also hosting the most native plants and water reserves in the country. The winery plants native flora on is vineyards to tackle to damage of monocultures, while all grapes are organic, hand-harvested and managed responsibly.
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Miami Cocktail Company Miami Cocktail Company offers a range of handcrafted organic cocktails, made with 100% natural and sustainably sourced ingredients, with no artificial flavours, colours, sweeteners, additives, or preservatives.
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Montanya Rum Based in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, female-run and certified B Corp Montanya rum is made in 100% wind-powered facilities. Their bottle supplier is certified Cradle to Cradle, they offset carbon production, they removed all plastic from their packaging and tasting room, and they offset the parts they can’t control (suppliers who ship products to them wrapped in plastic) by partnering with an organisation that funds plastic recycling around the world.
Locally, Montana Rum supports organisations that work in the arts, outdoor recreation, cancer support, sexual assault prevention and food security (among others).
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Good Liquorworks Because vodka can be made from almost anything with sugar content, Good Liquorworks rescues the fruit of the coffee plant and turns this by-product into vodka.
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Novo Fogo Tanager In partnership with botanists and biodiversity experts, cachaça brand Novo Fogo raises rare Brazilian hardwood seedlings to be replanted in Brazil. Their distillery is also a state-of-the-art, zero-waste facility employing organic, chemical-free sugar cane. Their reforestation program has planted over 500 native and endangered trees, and the registering and protecting of 88 bird species who use these trees.
Their distillery in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest sits on a slope, allowing the liquid in the distillation process to flow from step to step naturally. The remainder of the distillation process relies on heat transfer to keep energy use to a minimum.
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Sparkke Sparkke is a female-owned alcohol company producing organic and vegan brews while also advocating for social equity and inclusion. Since starting Sparkke has donated $116,000 in value, in-kind and financial support, supporting causes such as Indigenous rights, refugee rights, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ equality. They also partner with organisations to raise awareness and generate further funds.
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Brewgooder Brewgooder is a B Corp beer company, with a mission to provide clean water for 1,000,000 people by donating 100% of profits to clean water projects. On their website you can read the impact reports on each funded project, with a transparent impact model and sustainability reports available for anyone to read through.
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Stone & Wood Stone & Wood is a B Corp based in Byron Bay, Australia. In their commitment to being a green beer brand, they focus on reducing energy, water and waste, but also how they work with raw materials, supply chains, packaging and transport. Their bottles and packaging materials are made from 70% and 50% recycled content, and their waste-to-landfill rate is currently around 5%, thanks to the team separating out 14 different waste streams at the brewery to ensure that they’re being recycled in the best way available.
Their team regularly volunteers in the local community, and they also run Karma Kegs, where they donate a keg to a partnering venue and direct the money from its sales to a not-for-profit or local initiative. So far they have donated over $750,000 to charities.
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Rocky Ridge Brewing Co Rocky Ridge Brewing Co is based in Western Australia, and are firm believers in slow food principles. All of their farming practices are organic, while they utilise waste reuse and minimise fertiliser application. Their beers all come in cans, which are recyclable and lighter to transport than glass.
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Sombra Mezcal Sombra Mezcal blends artisanal Oaxaca traditions with modern sustainability. It’s made with Espadín agave that is hand-harvested from the Oaxacan Sierra, sourced from fairtrade local farmers the brand has long term relationships with.
The distillation by-products are also upcycled into adobe bricks to rebuild earthquake-damaged homes, all bottles are hand blown from recycled glass found in Mexico, and the labels peel off easily so the bottles can be reused.
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Horse Soldier USA based Horse Soldier produce handmade bourbon and whiskeys. Founded by veterans, the distillery contributes to the Warrior Sailing Program helping vets deal with PTSD and injuries, the Green Beret Foundation, The Armed Forces Families Foundation, local Florida non-profits and many more.
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Koskenkorva Koskenkorva is distilled in the Finnish village of Koskenkorva, an area that prides itself on good barley, pure water, dedicated local farmers and a state-of-the-art distillation process. Their vodka is non-GMO, vegan and gluten-free. 100% of their grain is utilised, with none wasted. They run on a bioenergy power plant that uses barley husk for fuel, reducing emissions by 50%. Barley that doesn’t get used for vodka is turned into paper and other products, and about half the spent grains (after distillation) are used as animal feed.
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The Hidden Sea Australian wine brand The Hidden Sea aim to remove 1 billion plastic bottles from the world’s oceans by 2030. For each bottle of Hidden Sea wine bought, 10 plastic bottles are removed from the ocean in a trackable process, thanks to a partnership with ReSea Project. After purchase customers receive a QR code which helps them track development.
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Ari’s Natural Wine Co. Ari’s produce vegan-friendly natural wines with no additives, preservatives or sulphites. They’re made from grapes that are hand-picked and wild-fermented with indigenous yeasts in the Southern Highlands of Australia, which is then hand-harvested and hand-processed, with no electricity or pump use at all.
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Henschke Henschke is an Australian winery that uses organic and biodynamic principles, reviewing their environmental action plan each year to ensure they’re doing everything they can. They plant native plants at the end of each vineyard row to naturally keep insects and disease away, instead of pesticides, and they use recyclable and reusable packaging.
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Snow Leopard Snow Leopard Vodka is an award-winning vodka that is six times distilled from spelt and other fine grains. 15% of profits are invested to the Snow Leopard Trust to create a sustainable life for the leopards to survive for future generations – raising over $250,000 to date for Snow Leopard conservation.
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Antipodes Gin Antipodes Gin was Australia’s first certified organic and carbon neutral gin. Their distillery runs on renewable energy, and their gin is infused with native Australian botanicals like Kakadu Plum and Tasmanian pepperberry that are free from chemicals and pesticides. They also refine with pure Australian rainwater.
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One Gin One Gin donates at least 10% of its profits to fund water projects in the world’s poorest communities. Launched on World Water Day in 2017, so far, the One Brand has raised over £19 million for water projects, transforming the lives of over 3.5 million people.
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Canaïma Gin Canaïma Gin is produced by Destilerias Unidas, Diplomático Rum’s distillery in Venezuela. The brand works with Indigenous people experienced in harvesting different Amazonian botanicals in ways that limit environmental impacts.
Canaïma also works with Saving the Amazon, which uses technology, mobile applications and the “human potential of Indigenous communities” to tackle the destruction of the Amazon and plant trees.
The brand donates 10% of sales to both initiatives to help “preserve their deep-rooted culture, heritage” and help reforestation of the Amazon region.
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Air Company Maker of the world’s first carbon-negative spirit, Air Company’s patented technology removes excess carbon from the air and transforms it into impurity-free ethyl alcohol to use in spirits, fragrances and sanitisers. Their first product, Air Vodka, absorbs as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as eight fully grown trees.
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The Sustainable Spirits Co Sustainable Spirits Co tackles packaging waste through their eco pouch. These pouches, which come in a number of sizes starting at 2.8L, allow their customers to refill the spirits bottles while reducing energy, travel, waste and cost. They’ve saved over 200,000kg of potential emissions and have prevented 300,000 bottles from going to waste.
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Bruichladdich As they aim to decarbonise its distillery by 2025, Bruichladdich has been experimenting with hydrogen combustion technology to heat the copper stills that produce its Islay single malt Scotch whiskies. They’re also committed to sustainable farming practices, transparency, and minimising waste.
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Punchy Drinks Punchy’s range of low abv (at 0% or 4%) drinks are made with natural ingredients, are vegan-friendly, plastic-free, gluten-free and low sugar. They’re a member of 1% for the Planet, donating 1% of profits to environmental organisations, and they promote mental health care and a pressure-free drinking culture through a partnership with the Jesey mental health app .
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St Ives Gin St Ives gin use a cold-compound process with fresh, foraged and sustainably sourced botanicals, with no preservatives, flavours or additives. They work in harmony with their restaurant Silco Searoom to ensure nothing goes to waste: the rind from squeezed blood oranges becomes cocktail garnishes, or zested lemons become homemade lemonade, for example. They use biodegradable and recyclable packaging materials, minimising plastic waste, and use as many local ingredients as possible.
Plus, every bottle sold with a #Gandtree swing tag plants a tree in oak, fir, willow, alder, or pine forests, depending on each area’s ecosystem, to combat deforestation.
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