Earlier this month, Global Drinks Intel announced the winners of its inaugural ESG Awards. Here’s a look at why the winners won.
Sustainable Spirits Product – Avallen Spirits for Avallen Calvados
One of the benefits of this being our first set of ESG Awards is that the judging panel was able to consider submissions that were less date-sensitive than the future rounds of the awards will be. This in part explains the success of Avallen Spirits for its namesake Calvados.
Avallen “has been built from the ground up to be the world’s most planet-positive spirits brand”. Indeed, the company’s approach to ESG has been so holistic as to put the submissions from other brands at quite the disadvantage.
While all apples are sourced from within a 30km radius of the production facility, only 1.2 litres of water are used to produce each bottle of Avallen Calvados. The spirit is packaged in either paper bottles from Frugalpac or in ‘ecototes’ from Ecospirits. Post-production, all of the spent apple must is “converted to biogas for local businesses”. The labels, meanwhile, are made from ‘AppleTouch’ paper, a blend of recycled paper and waste apple fibre.
“Even our business cards are made from wildflower seedpaper to encourage more wildflowers.”
The cherry on the top for the judging panel was Avallen’s B Corp status, which was secured in January last year, along with a brand lifecycle assessment [LCA] collated by Netherlands-based Ecochain Technologies.
Special Commendation – Clonakilty Distillery
As well as the sustainability efforts that featured in Clonakilty’s award-winning marketing campaign, the Irish whiskey producer earned a special commendation in this category for its use of a closed-loop water system to cool its condensers, as well as the 100% renewably-sourced energy usage in the production process. Judges were also impressed by the company’s elimination of single-use packaging for shipping, preferring shredded paper over air sacs.
Special Commendation – Good Liquorworks for Good Vodka
Another ESG Awards winner warranted a special commendation, with Good Liquorworks earning kudos for Good Vodka’s all-encompassing attitude. “Good Liquorworks started with one question,” the company says. “What could a vodka look like if we reimagined its supply chain from square one?”
From its base of “a sugar-rich effluent out of a typical waste stream” [discarded coffee fruit] to using only 1.3% of the water required to produce a corn-ethanol vodka – again backed by an LCA from Ecochain – Good Vodka is one to watch in the coming years.
Special Commendation – Mijenta Tequila
Just over a year ago, Mijenta owner Altos Planos became “the first Tequila producer” to earn B Corp status. As well as this, the three-year-old brand earned a special commendation for its arrangement with ClimatePartner that helps offset greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions for its “corporate-level activities” such as office electricity consumption and employee commutes. The partnership also sees Mijenta offset all three scopes for GHG emissions.
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