Two Drifters Distillery awarded IWSC’s 2023 Green Spirit Initiative Trophy

We’re delighted to award Two Drifters Distillery the IWSC 2023 Green Spirit Initiative Trophy, sponsored byBerlin Packaging.

The winner of the IWSC’s second Green Spirit Initiative Trophy is Two Drifters Distillery, the world’s first carbon negative rum. Two Drifters wowed our judges with their strong commitment to sustainability. This is not a brand that merely pays lip service to the topic of sustainability but actually has self-imposed a carbon tax on their business to really hold themselves accountable.

“We have created a self-imposed, carbon tax on the business, meaning we pay for all carbon emissions we create, from sugarcane plantation all the way to rum bottle and onto our customers glass and the recycling of the packaging. By doing so, we financially incentivise ourselves to find every way we can to find sustainable alternatives.”

As well as their carbon tax, they also have an electric distillery run on zero emission energy, “having a closed loop chilling system reducing water wastage, carbon neutral packaging, carbon neutral courier, light weight British made sustainable glass bottle, the list goes on.”

Our judges were so impressed by Two Drifters sustainability initiatives, but also how the business is trying to encourage others to follow suit. The brand is sharing their knowledge and are the first drinks brand to release an Environmental Product Declaration, “an in-depth analysis into the full journey of a bottle of Two Drifters Rum, from cradle to grave.” The company goes as far as saying, “We will have failed in our mission if other producers don't take on board what we do and implement it themselves.” One judge exclaimed that Two Drifters are “extremists of sustainability”.

The B Corp Certified company has outreach programmes to involve their community in their sustainability efforts. For bartenders from all over the UK they organised a Two Drifters' experience at the distillery followed by a beach clean.

One word that kept cropping up amongst our judges to describe Two Drifters was “credible”, the transparency of what they are doing, their commitment and hard work, even taking a financial burden to ensure they remove their environmental impact on the planet, makes Two Drifters Distillery the worthy winner of our Green Spirit Initiative Trophy.

Congratulations to Two Drifters Distillery.