Here are some stories on sustainability in the booze world you might want to read: Why Packaging Is Wine’s New Sustainability Frontier, Liquor.com How producers are choosing locally-made glass, lighter bottles and aluminum cans, and less-wasteful packaging. Bartenders Guide to Foraging Nettles, DiffordsGuide.com And how to make nettle cordial. Why Spirits and Wine Producers Are Turning to Regenerative Farming, Liquor.com "A new laser-focus on the rhizosphere—the soil and its microorganisms—by farmers and winemakers is analogous to the surge of interest in the human microbiome among nutrition and health advocates, with the producers linking soil health to the overall wellbeing of... Read more →

I recently saw a distillery that sent a press release announcing they were going "plastic neutral" by using the rePurpose program. It works a lot like carbon offsets: You use their tool to calculate your plastic use (for all the plastic that can't be recycled or eliminated), and then purchase "plastic offsets" to fund waste recycling organizations. Carbon offset programs are available for the carbon created by one's business, home, airline flights, events, etc. This seems exactly the same. On the plus side, as long as the offset organizations are funneling the money to actual pro-environmental causes with low overhead... Read more →

Here's a round-up of sustainability news catered to the cocktail audience. Not a single part of a fruit goes to waste in Bar Trigona's new cocktail menu “Sustainability has always been part of Bar Trigona. From the beginning, we’ve tried to be as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible, from only using ingredients produced locally, to reducing packaging and waste at the bar, ” says head bartender Ashish Sharma. The new menu, titled The Life Cycle Of Fruit, focuses on how you can reduce, reuse and think differently about fruit. The drinks revolve around four fruits – mango, jackfruit, mandarin... Read more →

The bar Stilllife in Montreal uses no fresh citrus juice on their menu. The citrus products they do use are waste created by their other bar, The Cloakroom. Bar owner Andrew Whibley emailed with some information and recipes from the bar. He made sure to credit the other members of his team for these recipes as well: Andrew Whibley- Owner Stillife/Cloakroom Bar Jonas Kempeners - Manager Cloakroom Jay Lawson- Prep manager Stillife Anna Levy- Prep manager Cloakroom Quick Links Citrus Oil Sprays instead of using fresh peels Fermented leftover citrus juice and a drink recipe that uses it Acid-adjusted fruit... Read more →