I launched Greensand Ridge distillery in 2016, a year after I began converting the site, and three years after beginning a masters degree in Distilling. Much of that time has been spent researching not just how to build a sustainable distillery with a small footprint, but how to do so while having a positive impact on the environment and our community.

Distilling is inherently energy intensive - heating a liquid just to condense the liquid immediately. This is in part mitigated by the design of the still; most distilleries burn gas to heat steam as it is cheap. We have opted to use electric heating with energy supplied by Good Energy - 100% renewable supply. The still is also efficient, providing up to 5 distillations in one run, rather then using multiple stills and heating cycles to achieve the same purification. The still also recovers heated cooling water to clean itself, meaning our aim of being a chemical free distillery is achievable.

As well as having a small footprint by using green energy, being chemical free and having a zero target for non-recyclable waste, we have a positive impact on our community by working with farmers to mitigate waste at the farm gate by recovering surplus produce and creating premium spirits. In our first food waste project we recovered 300kg of raspberries from a local soft fruit grower which were not suitable for supermarkets, being sunbleached or with the first threads of mould. We distilled these into a Hibeergeist - a German berry schnapps - and we pay the farmer 50p per bottle for what would have been waste.

We have designed our operations so that we can produce core lines, but also react to oversupply and gluts of produce to produce limited editions - like the Raspberry Ghost from this year, or perhaps a plum or williams pear brandy next. One of our core lines will be Apple Brandy due to the fact that there is sadly such a reliable supply of waste apples. These apples were from a farm where 50% of the crop was hail marked from a freak May storm. Perfectly ripe but not acceptable to supermarkets and too low value to run cold stores. We were able to take 8 tons in our first year, proving the farmer with a fair juicing rate for what would have been waste.

We selected a site for the distillery which is in the middle of the soft fruit growing region of England. We are also surrounded by vineyards whose pressed grapes we can ferment and distill into a marc/grappa grape brandy. Here we are distilling a test batch to understand the specific environmental cost/benefits of using pressed grapes as an input. We preferentially use produce which is true waste and not part of an existing closed loop process.

All of our equipment is renewable powered. Our warehouse is heated by a log burner with wood supplied by tree surgeons. Our equipment is cleaned with hot water/steam and sterilised with the waste 'heads' from our distilling runs. Our waste hot water is recycled for cleaning and then used to pre-heat the next batch of liquid for distillation. We do not use chemicals as part of our fermentation/distillation process. Our organic liquid waste from distillation is processed in our biodigester. All our waste is recycled with the exception of our label backing paper (and we're working on that).

Our organic waste from fruit processing feeds local boar meaning both our inputs and waste outputs benefit the local community. We use the boar meat to feed our events guests. We are vocal about our efforts in sustainability to shift consumer perceptions about how sustainability pertains to premium goods. Why would you think a 'traditional gas-fired still' is something to be proud of'!

We make beautiful, world class, premium spirits with food waste, and with the lightest touch on the lands that surround us.