The Most Sustainable Whiskies You Can Buy Now
Consumers want to be told that the products they’re purchasing and enjoying are better for the world at large. Here are some distilleries that actually are making a difference.
Source: Vendors
Grain, water, yeast—and CO₂? On average, crafting a single 750-milliliter bottle of liquor results in some 6.5 pounds of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere, equivalent to burning a third of a gallon of gasoline, a recent report from the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable concluded.
Specifically, making whiskey is such an energy-intensive enterprise because it requires weighty raw ingredients to be trucked over long distances. And distillation itself is a largely inefficient process—heating the stills and maintaining temperatures only to keep less than 40% of the final distillate once you discard the heads and tails. An immense amount of grain produces relatively little liquid: Approximately 100 kilograms (222 pounds) of cereal will make 600 liter of mash, yielding up to 87 liters of 80-proof whiskey. Creating all those barrels and glass bottles has an immense carbon footprint, too.