Britain’s first climate positive bar launched in central London last week.
Avallen is on a mission to fight against the climate crisis by raising awareness and setting new benchmarks for sustainability within the drinks industry.
The calvados brand partnered with climate positive gin Nàdar and farm to table restaurant, Terroir Tapas, to create the UK’s first climate positive cocktail bar at the Cocktails In The City.
Co-founder Tim Etherington-Judge said: “We’re trying to show people that you can create products that are good for the planet and taste delicious at the same time.
“It’s not just about the liquid, we have to change the whole model. We have to change the distribution model, which essentially hasn’t changed for the last 150 years.
“We looked at the kind of the environmental impact of alcohol production, and it’s pretty bad.
“Especially if you take in biodiversity loss, carbon emissions, chemical pesticide, and particular water use, no one is really talking about it.
“We are going to tackle the climate crisis and catastrophic biodiversity loss properly. We have to change the way we do things.”
Every bottle of Avallen Calvados removes 2.73kg of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, roughly the equivalent of driving 13 miles in an average car.
Avallen Calvados is proudly natural with no additives or added sugar, made from just apples, water and aged in French oak barrels for two years.
Etherington-Judge said: “Our mission is to lead that charge towards a more sustainable future.
“Avallen is the world’s most planet positive spirits brand, as a small brand, we can be very nimble and move very fast.
“Production is through what we call insetting, through the production itself, because obviously, apples grow on trees, those trees, waxes, carbon sinks and absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere, locking it away.
“Also the same goes in Nàdar, the world’s first climate positive gin, so we start with those materials as the base for the cocktails.
“All of the ingredients have been sourced by Terroir Tapas, our partner bar, who are a zero-waste closed loop bar from Bournemouth.
“All of it is based on waste material or local ingredients are from within the M25.
“Everything is super, super local.”
At Cocktails In The City, Etherington-Judge debuted ecoSPIRITS, a low carbon, low waste packaging technology in the UK.
ecoSPIRITS has developed the ecoTOTE, a fully-reusable, tamper-proof and shock-proof 4.5L glass vessel that replaces the standard 6-bottle case of spirits and eliminates nearly all packaging waste.
Etherington-Judge said the vessel could be refilled up to 1000 times.
The clever concept will help cut down on the waste problem and CO2 problem created by the closed loop system between bars and drinks suppliers.
ecoSPIRITS are focused on ensuring a sustainable future by ending single-use glass in the spirits industry.
Featured image credit: Avallen Spirits
